Assignment #3: Creating Search Statements

UL100

When you are searching for information, it is important to write your search statements in a way
that will locate resources relevant to and informative of your topic. This includes knowing what
key terms or concepts are primary to your topic, thinking of synonyms that can substitute for
those terms, being comfortable using Boolean operators and limiters, and being prepared to
combine all of these elements into a number of search statements to find the best results.
Instructions:
1. Revise your research question to include at least two key concepts if it doesnt already. Your
question shouldnt be too broad or too narrow. Write your revised research statement below:
Does the law enforcements reason for staffing so many employees at once match the reality of
Emporias small town reputation, even though it is also a college town, or are they just overstepping their boundaries?
2. What are the key terms/concepts from your research topic (at least two)?
Concept 1: College Towns
Concept 2: Law Enforcement
Concept 3: Boundaries

3. What are some synonyms or related terms for your key concepts? (Try to think of at least 2
synonyms per concept.)
Concepts
1
College towns
2
Law Enforcers
3 Boundaries

Synonym 1
Emporia
Police
Limit

Synonym 2
Campus
Sheriff
Power

Synonym 3
City
Street Patrol
Control

4. Pretend the boxes below are search boxes in a database. Enter your search in a way that will
return good results, using at least three of the Boolean operators listed below:
Use NOT to exclude terms
Use "OR" to link synonyms and related terms. Use "AND" to link different concepts.
Put quotes (" ") around multi-word concepts.
Use the asterisk (*) to "truncate"

Assignment #3: Creating Search Statements

UL100

Concept 1
police
( And )
Concept 2
power
(

Concept 3
Adding a third concept narrows my research too much.

5. Now run your search in Academic Search Complete, using the following limiters. Clear each
previous limiter before applying the next.
Limiter Applied
No limiters applied, just the
keywords.

No. of Results
5,069

Limit to "scholarly journals"

2,046

Limit to articles published in

last 10 years

3,530

Limit to articles published in

last 5 years

1,930

Limit by selecting a term from 79

"Subject Terms" list
United States

Relevance/Quality of First 10 Results

Some are relevant and some I am unable to
open the article to get more information.
Most of the articles talk about police
stepping outside of their regulations to
enforce laws or problems within the police
departments.
Only one article changed and it talked about
police trying to dictate the communities.

The first few articles stayed the same but

some changes in the recent ten years were
articles about discrimination and racism and
how police encourage it. Police training was
also one of the articles.
The results did not change from the ten year
limitation.

One of the main things mentioned in the

articles is immigration in the US and police
overstepping boundaries

Assignment #3: Creating Search Statements

Apply any two from above

UL100

48

Militarization of US police is talked about

and racism is still a large part of these
articles.

40

One article focuses on unconstitutional acts

made by police and another talks about
citizens of a town coming together and
talking about problems. With more research
about the seatbelt grant I could tie this into
my research paper somehow.

Which did you choose?

United States subject and from
the past 5 years

Apply any three from above

Which did you choose?
United States subject and from
the past 5 years and Scholarly
journals

6. Which limiter or combination of limiters seems to give you the best results?
I found the best results by using the subject United States and limiting my articles published
in the last 10 years. I like scholarly Journals a lot, but I also go a great amount of information
form articles called New York Times, which is just a news report.

7. Now, use the search strategy that gives you the best results. Run the search, and look through
the first few pages of results. Find three articles that answer your research question. How does
the quality of these articles compare to articles you found previously?
These articles point police over stepping their boundaries, unintentionally and sometimes
intentionally, will cause a problem in a community and it takes away our privacy. I really
enjoyed the article that talked about unconstitutional practices by the police and ways to prevent
it and correct it.