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My results are off topic...
It can be difficult, when your results are off topic, to see
how to fix the problem.
It could
be you are not in the best database.
Check
the description and the scope of the database to make sure it is a good
choice for the topic you are searching.
For example,
the MLA
Bibliography database would not be a good choice if you were looking
for book reviews as opposed to literary criticism. Or, a student in
Biomedical Engineering might try searching PubMed
/ Medline (a medical literature database) when Compendex
(an engineering database) would be a better source.
Talk with
a librarian if you need help selecting an appropriate database, or review
the Choosing the Best Database section
of this tutorial.
Sometimes,
the same words can refer to very different concepts.
For example,
if you're doing research on the topic of the therapeutic use of
animals, you may decide to search for pet therapy;
however, PET also stands for positron emission tomography and is also
a key word term for psychoeducational therapy and a number of other
medical and psychological therapies.
Many databases
provide subject terms (or descriptors) which describe the topic of the
article. If you can find one article that is on topic, using the subject
terms associated with it can lead you to additional relevant articles.
In the example below, a search on pet therapy found an
article with Animal Assisted Therapy as a subject. Clicking
on this, or searching for this as a Subject, will get you to more articles
you can use.
EXAMPLE:
Prepared for the
Jean and Alexander Heard Library,
Vanderbilt University
We would like to express our sincere appreciation
to MIT Libraries
for granting permission
to modify and use their "Information Navigator" tutorial.
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