Some of your assignments at CatholicU might include:

• Writing a persuasive essay on the importance of community service
• Finding scholarly articles for a theology and religious studies paper
• Preparing a class presentation about an ancient civilization
• Investigating a controversial issue for a debate
• Preparing an annotated bibliography

1. Carefully read your assignment and be sure you understand it
2. Identify the key words or concepts
3. Find synonyms for the main terms
4. Document your search by keeping a list of all search terms
5. Doing multiple searches with different search terms is the best way to ensure you're getting the best resources for your topic

Your initial question may change as you see what sources are available on your topic.

Initial question: Hoes does social media affect marketing strategy in companies?

If you're finding too much, try focusing on a specific part of the topic:

• How does the use of TikTok affect marketing strategy in companies?
• How does social media affect marketing strategy for small businesses?

If you're finding too little, take a step back and look at a topic more generally:

• How does social media affect marketing or advertising?

Sometimes a visual or concept map can also help you brainstorm search terms or even help you develop an outline for your topic.

Here's a sample concept map for a psychology project on the psychological causes and effects of bullying among adolescents.

You will also be able to get ideas for additional search terms once you start searching by looking at the types of language and terms being used in the abstracts (summaries) and subject terms of the results.

Not every author uses the same terms when writing about the same ideas. Using synonyms or related words in your searching will help you find more relevant results.

Try it: Imagine you are writing a paper about green products and the consumers who buy them. Choose three alternative search terms for each main idea. Remember that there may be other good search terms that we haven't listed here.