Choose your destination
Define your topic
It's tempting to throw a word or two into the search box and go. This is like picking a random plane at the airport.
Ask yourself:
What do I want to know?
What do I want to do with this information?
Begin your search with a question or statement answering the above questions. Your professor may have given you a topic, such as "birth plans," but you will need to define it further.
For laboring women, do hospital-supported birth plans reduce the rate of caesarean sections and other medical interventions?
Make an itinerary
Create keywords
From your above statement, pick the most important words. These will be stops along your search journey.
birth plans hospital support caesareans
Now grab your book of phrases or Google! In a new place, you might order "pop" and get told, "Honey, we call it soda here." This happens in databases, too. Come up with a list of synonyms or related terms for each concept in your research question. The key to a good journey is preparation and flexibility!
birth plans
women in labor
pregnant women
hospital support
staff support
midwife
doula
birth coach
patient advocate
self-determination theory
caesarean
medical intervention
labor complication
epidural
Destination Planning
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