UGS 302: Evidence-based Social Change - Prof. Marteleto

Sample topic:  The effect of socio-economic status on educational attainment in Brazil

Step 1:  Think about the key concepts of your topic and search those instead of an entire phrases or sentences.

• Key concepts:  socio-economic status educational attainment, Brazil

• Wait?  Why not "effect"?  Words like "effect" or "pro/con" should be avoided.  The articles you find will be about the impact or effect, so adding those words unnecessarily narrows your search.

Step 2:   Think of other terms you could use that are synonyms or words that represent a narrower or broader aspect of the topic.  

• Other terms for socio-economic status = SES, class, poor, poverty, middle class, wealthy, elite

• Other terms for educational attainment = education level, college education, high school education

• Other terms for Brazil = Brasil 

Step 3: Connect your terms using AND and OR:

• Example 1: socio-economic status AND educational attainment AND Brazil

• Example 2: Socio-economic status OR class OR poverty AND educational attainment OR education level AND Brazil

Remember - 

• AND narrows your topic (use AND between terms if you want them all to appear in your results)

• OR broadens your topic (use OR between terms if you want any, not all, to appear in your results)