Kinesiology and Exercise Science: Research Process

Creating a Search Statement, Step by Step

1. Write your search topic as a sentence and then circle the words you’ll need to find that information. Those are your keywords.

How effective is wearable technology for increasing physical activity

2. Consider adding a few synonyms and related terms with your keywords.

   This will make easier to find articles. For example, Exercise is another term an author might use for Physical Activity.

3. Use search commands AND or OR to connect keywords in a search statement.

The OR command is used to combine synonyms or similar terms and retrieves results that use either term or both terms in a document

The AND command is used to combine different concepts and retrieves results that have both of your concepts in the same document

wearable technology AND physical activity OR exercise

4. If your keyword is a phrase (like physical activity), put it in quotes to let the database know these terms should be searched together

“wearable technology” AND “physical activity” OR exercise

5. If you are using AND and OR commands in the same search statement, parenthesis determine which terms are combined first.

“wearable technology” AND (“physical activity” OR exercise)

Questions? Ask Janice