This presentation was originally created by Abby Bedford of Grand Valley State University. Used and modified with permission.

1. HOW
TO BE
A SUPER
SEARCHER

2. THE
S IX STEP
METHOD

3. N E :
O
DEFINE
YOUR
TOPIC

4. O :
T W
PULL
KEYWORDS
FROM YOUR
TOPIC QUESTION

5. AND

6. BRAINSTORM
SYNONYMS
FOR THOSE WORDS

7. E E :
T H R
SEARCH IN
RESEARCH
DATABASES

8. IK E :
L
ACADEMIC SEARCH COMPLETE
PSYCINFO
LEXISNEXIS

9. FIND THEM IN THE
RESEARCH GUIDES
OR IN GALILEO

10. U R :
F O
USE
BOOLEAN
OPERATORS

11. A OR B

12. A AND B

13. A NOT B

14. IV E :
F
USE
SUBJECT
HEADINGS

15. SUBJECT HEADINGS ARE A
SET LIST OF KEYWORDS
THAT DESCRIBE A TOPIC
WITHIN A DATABASE.

16. IT’S LIKE
TAGGING.
ONLY BETTER.

17. LO OK FO R:
THESAURUS
SUBJECTS

18. S IX :
USE FOOTNOTE
CHASING &
CITED REFERENCE
SEARCHING

19. FOOTNOTE
CHASING I
S:

20. FINDING ARTICLES
BY LOOKING AT
THE REFERENCES OF
RELEVANT ARTICLES

21. CITED RE FERENCE
SEARC HING IS:

22. FINDING WHO
HAS CITED
RELEVANT
ARTICLES

23. GOOGLE SCHOLAR
WILEY ONLINE LIBRARY
LOOK FOR "CITED BY" LINK
UNDER THE ARTICLE TITLE
& AUTHOR INFO

24. ASK YOUR LIBRARIAN!
westga.edu/library
OR CHECK YOUR SUBJECT'S
RESEARCH GUIDE
libguides.westga.edu

25. Slide One. Fonzie's Cousin - http://www.flickr.com/photos/89927155@N00/4587806696/sizes/o/in/set-72157594405581085/
This presentation has been modified from the GVSU presentation posted by Abby Bedford at
http://www.slideshare.net/bedforda/how-to-be-a-supersearcher-general