Develop Effective Search Strategies
To determine what keywords to use when searching, write out your question on a piece of paper and then underline the words in your question that best express what it is you are looking for. For example, if this is my research question:
How does the canopy structure influence the foraging behaviour?
I would focus in on the bolded words:
How does the canopy structure influence the foraging behaviour?
Then, I would construct my search as follows:
"canopy structure" AND "foraging behaviour"
If I am not happy with my search results I could think of synonyms for my search terms, then try a new search.
Instead of canopy structure, I could also try:
"leaf area density" OR "forest canopy structure"
As you look through your search results, pay particular attention to the words the authors are using, as these can give you ideas for keywords to try in future searches.
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