CPEB 250: Problem-Based Learning in Organizational Behavior

1. State your research question in a clear sentence.
     I’d like to study microeconomics of the agriculture industry in Japan .

2. Identify the concepts in your research question.
     microeconomics and agriculture and industry and Japan.

3. Think of related terms (connected by or) which might also describe your concepts.
     (microeconomics or supply or demand) and (agriculture or farming or husbandry) and (industry or business or companies
     or firms) and (Japan or Hokkaido or Honshu)

4. Apply special features and put together your statement
     (microeconomic* or supply or demand) and (agricultur* or farm*or husbandry) and (industr* or business* or companies or
     firms) and (Japan or Hokkaido or Honshu)  

Note that parentheses are only needed when "OR" strings and ANDs are linked in the same box.

--Add another concept, using and
     (Japan or Hokkaido or Honshu) and (fruit or apples or pears)

--Limit your terms to more specific fields (example: subject, title, abstract)

--Use wildcards (sometimes called truncation) whenever appropriate. The wildcard character is usually an asterisk.
       Ex. farm* will retrieve farms, farming, farmers, etc.

--Beware the "phrase-searching trap"!    In many databases,  you will get additional relevant hits by putting a proximity symbol or the connector AND between phrase words   Ex. In EBSCO databases, instead of "urban sprawl"  type  "urban n3 sprawl" [no quotes] to ALSO catch articles that write of sprawl in urban areas.

--Check for typos.

--Add related terms, using or
     (management or supervis* or oversight)

--Take out a concept
     (agricultur* or farm*or husbandry) and (industr* or business* or companies or firms) and (Japan or Hokkaido or Honshu)