 Today, your friends at the UCLA library are here to teach you how to construct effective searches to find sources relevant to your specific research question. Let's say your research question was, how will the implementation of clean energy regulations impact the environment and the economy? Searching for clean energy will give you way too many results, some of which may be irrelevant to your question. But searching your exact research question word for word could emit helpful resources that don't include your specific keywords. Starting with the ineffective search terms can be frustrating and demotivating because it doesn't get you closer to useful information. So having a system set up that will ensure effective searches will save you a lot of time and energy. But how do you come up with effective search terms? Start by getting a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Write your research question at the top of your paper. Before you can start searching for things, you have to identify keywords in your question and which main topic those keywords fit in, whether it be social, political, economic, or technical. Draw a 5x4 grid and label the columns with the four main realms of your research and the rows with question, narrow, and broad. Next, analyze your question and categorize its keywords. To be able to write both specific and general searches, you will have to come up with other topics that either delve deeper into your keywords or expand out from them. All that is left to do is fill out the chart. You can use a thesaurus or ask your professor or TA if you get stuck on a section. The way this chart is set up enables you to create searches using a mix and match method. Just combine keywords from different sections and form your searches. If you search something and it's too specific with too few results, switch one of your search terms with a word from the broad row and vice versa. If the search is still too narrow or too broad, you can change another keyword accordingly. Now that you know how to set up this chart, go ahead and try making your own with your own research question. Looking for help with the next steps? Feel free to stop by at one of our many locations and set up a consultation.