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RPTA 101 - Introduction to Recreation, Parks and Tourism

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Identifying Search Terms and Creating Search Statements

When searching for articles in a database, you will need to identify a number of keyword search terms to use based on your topic.

If your topic was about what factors influence customer satisfaction with hotels, the following search terms would be appropriate:

  • Hotel
  • Motel
  • Resort
  • Customer
  • Consumer
  • Satisfaction
  • Loyalty
Using the * at the end of the root word (hotel*) will tell the database to find the word, the plural form, and any related words with different suffixes (e.g, hotel, hotels)

Next, you need to combine these serach terms with connectors to create a search statement to use in the database. You will want to create several different search statements to use for searching. 

Here are some search statement examples:

  • hotel* AND customer* AND satisfaction
  • (hotel* OR resort*) AND consumer* AND loyalty

TIP Remember to pick out the important words for your topic instead of searching for full sentences.

Selecting a Database and Searching for Articles

Individual articles are not found in the online catalog; therefore, you will have to use an index or database to search for articles on your topic. Kennedy Library has many different databases and indexes to choose from. Some are very broad and cover a wide variety of disciplines, while others are very narrow and only cover specific disciplines.

An example of a broad database/index is Academic Search Premier. This database/index covers almost all disciplines (e.g. psychology, business, biology).

An example of a narrower, subject-specific database/index is Hospitality and Tourism Complete. This database/index covers topics in hospitality, tourism and related disciplines.

It is important to select an appropriate database or index when searching for articles, so you can find what you are looking for quickly and easily. 

Use one of the databases listed below to search for articles on your topic. You may also view list of databases by subject.

Journals for Recreation, Parks, and Tourism

Examples of journals for the recreation, parks and tourism discipline. 

Avoiding Plagiarism