What is Pre-Search?
Pre-Search is about being curious. The pre-search process involves gathering background information and context. The more you know about your topic, the more comfortable you will be as you search for academic sources and write about it.
Background and context might include:
- identifying widely accepted knowledge related to your topic
- finding definitions or explanations for unknown terms or vocabulary related to your topic
- finding examples
- identifying key figures involved in the discussion (stakeholders or interested parties)
- identifying events related to your topic
- considering related concepts
- understanding the history and/or timeline
The sources you find are most likely not the sources you will eventually cite in your research papers. Their main purpose is to solidify your understanding and identify search terms before you begin searching for scholarly/peer-reviewed articles or studies later in the research process.
Activity 1: Generating Keywords
How to talk to databases
When using Google, you can type a sentence or question and retrieve relevant results. Databases operate differently than search engines, so they require a different search strategy for a few different reasons.
- As you conduct research in library databases, you are taking part in an ongoing scholarly conversation. Scholars and professionals often use specialized vocabulary that you may not use in everyday conversation. If you're using different language than the professionals use, you may be missing out on a lot of great information.
- Databases are more structured than internet search engines. In a search engine, your search terms can match words in the full text or the entire web site. In a database, your search terms need to match words in the data that describe the article such as the article title, the journal title, and the abstract (overview) of the article, not necessarily the full text.
Thus, we recommend that you:
- carefully select the key concepts from your research question and combine those as keywords to search in a database
- use the worksheet labeled 'generating keywords' on this page to brainstorm for search terms
Activity 2: Use these recommended sources for pre-search
Today, we will use two different types of sources to gather background and context: subject-specific encyclopedias or reference books and chapters within eBooks. The scope of both of these kinds of resources suit our needs for pre-search very well.
Best Bets: Encyclopedias representing a variety of research topics
- Oxford Research EncyclopediasFull-text encyclopedias on a range of topics that include in-depth, peer-reviewed summaries written by scholars across all fields of study.
- Routledge HandbooksAround 2,700 handbooks providing up-to-date overviews of classic and current research across the Humanities, Social Sciences, Education, Psychology, Engineering, and Built Environment from Routledge and CRC Press.
- Oxford Digital Reference ShelfFull-text reference works from Oxford University Press covering a broad range of subjects, and including timelines, quotations, and overviews.
Best Bets: Book chapters representing a variety of research topics
- Very Short IntroductionsHundreds of short ebooks (around 100 pages each) that offer concise expert overviews of a diverse range of concepts. Subjects include climate, consciousness, game theory, ancient warfare, economics, and literary theory.
Alternate Access link: http://proxy.ohiolink.edu:9099/login?url=https://academic.oup.com/pages/very-short-introductions - eBook Academic Collection (EBSCO)eBook Academic Collection provides access to thousands of multidisciplinary ebook titles representing a broad range of academic subject matter including titles from leading university presses such as Oxford University Press, State University of New York Press, Cambridge University Press, University of California Press, MIT Press, Harvard University Press and many others. Additional academic publishers include Elsevier Ltd.; Brill Academic Publishers; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Sage Publications, Ltd. and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Additional encyclopedias for specific subject areas
- Science Reference CenterFull text for hundreds of science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals and other sources.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyThousands of entries on people, concepts, books, and other topics in philosophy written by experts in the field.
- Oxford Art OnlineOxford Art Online includes the peer-reviewed, regularly updated Grove Art Online, The Benezit Dictionary of Artists, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, providing access to thousands of articles spanning ancient to contemporary art and architecture, as well as images of works of art, structures, plans, and artist signatures.
Access limited to 3 users at a time.
Worksheets
- Generating KeywordsPage 1 is a worksheet for brainstorming keywords with which you can search. Page 2 includes additional time-saving tips.
- Narrow your topicThis activity can help you narrow your research topic.