Educational Leadership & Policy Research

Best practices for searching are relatively consistent across interfaces. No matter which database you choose, remember these important tips...

1) Don't search wth your topic as a single phrase! Determine the key concepts of your topic. Then place each concept in its own search bar.  For example...

2) Use ORs to string together synonyms or related terms for those concepts...

3) Use truncation, when appropriate. Adding an * to the end of a word will catch all forms of that word. For example, teach* will return teach, teachers, teaching, etc.

4) Use proximity searches to force a relationship between two terms. This isn't always needed, but it's sometimes super helpful. Completion is a common word that may come up in many context. The search below means that the word complete or completion must appear within two words of college in the article title and abstracts.

5) Look for the "peer reviewed" limit in each database, and set date limits as appropriate for your topic. Don't choose the "Full Text" limit as this will exclude articles that we have online via other sources. Just follow the orange "Find it @ UT" button to be taken to the journal sites.