Keeping a research log is an excellent practice for organizing sources and successful sources. This can be as simple as a document with a record of your successful keyword combinations or it can be structured to include annotations, summaries, or notes on specific sources and how they inform your project.
Some best practices:
Below are a few free and helpful research log tools:
Whether using JumboSearch, a research database such as PsycInfo, or another search tool such as Google Scholar, there are strategies, techniques, and best practices that will enable you to get the most out of your search. Approaching your search process with a strategy is a great way to find the relevant material more quickly and efficiently.
Your keywords are the meaningful, topical terms in your research question. For example: "How can mood disorders affect teens' performance in school?" - keywords are "mood disorders," "teens," and "school performance"
Certain terms are used to combine your keywords in specific ways in order to retrieve more relevant results. These terms are :