Example of a topic
Smell is the sense most closely linked to memory. An example of a broad search phrase: relationship between sense of smell and memory.
Tip: Don’t try to cram a long string of words or sentences into a search box. Instead think of a few keywords that reflect your topic the best.
Use APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms to narrow down an initially broad topic or discover what other terms are used by the database.
“smell” – the term used is “olfactory perception”
“memory” subtopics: “long term” and “short term”. If you use both, connect them by “AND” to retrieve the articles that include both terms.
Now I can ask a research question:
Are both long-term and short-term memory affected by the sense of smell?
From this research question I select a few key terms I will use in my research process:
smell long-term memory short-term memory
You get fewer results but more relevant.
Advanced Search
This mode gets you more results.
Multiple search boxes. Use them to add more keywords. For example, “human” or “elderly”.
On the left: limit by date and material type.