Social Work

Define your Topic with Search Terms

Clearly define your thesis statement. Below are trouble spots to look out for:

Too Broad - EXAMPLE: food poverty

• Solution: add another concept to your topic which to narrow your thesis and make it more focused.
  EXAMPLE: food poverty and rural elderly

Too Narrow - EXAMPLE: food poverty AND rural elderly AND Missouri

[NOTE: to search for a phrase use quotation marks]

• Solution: Remove one secondary concept from your thesis.
  EXAMPLE: food poverty AND rural elderly AND Missouri

Searching in Summon for Journal Articles

Perhaps your topic(research question) is about doing case management with families that have experienced trauma.

Break down your thesis into concepts. Develop a list of synonyms.

EXAMPLE: family case management AND trauma

** Other terms search terms for family case management could be "child and family case management" "case management" or "social case work".
Combining different terms gives you different results.