Defining Your Topic Practice - Search Strategy Worksheet

This worksheet is designed to help you refine your search strategy.  Fill in the blanks.  DON'T FORGET TO PRINT ! This will disappear when you leave this site.

Step 1. Summarize Your Topic 

In one or two sentences, summarize your search topic. In other words, what do you want to find information on? Use your own words and try to be as specific as possible. 

example: I would like to explore the number of abortions in Arizona among teenage girls.

Step 2. Identify the Concepts. 

Identify your concepts. Concepts are the different elements which make up search topics. Most searches can be broken down into two or three main concepts.  example:   I need information about teenage abortion rates in Arizona     concepts: teenage / abortion / Arizona

List your concepts: