It is important to determine your search query thoughtfully. This increases the chance that you will find the right information.

Based on your problem you construct:

• just one search query, or
• a search question (main question) that is subdivided into sub questions.

Example about social media

The main question is, for example:
What are the effects of the use of social media in higher education on the learning behavior of students?

The sub questions:

• Is this effect the same for boys and girls?
• Is this effect internationally comparable?
• Are there different effects per social medium?
• ...

Specify your search query as much as possible, here you can use the 5 W's:

• Who
• Where
• When
• What
• Why

Open and closed questions

A search query can be open or closed. In most cases you can only answer a closed question with yes/no/maybe. Open questions usually provide concrete, factual information.

Example of a closed question:

Do students use social media in education?
Possible answers: yes/no/maybe/don't know

Example of an open question:

Which social media are used by students in education?
Possible answers: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on...

Try to formulate a main question that consists of three elements. These are usually the target group, subject and process. In the example about social media these are students, social media and learning behaviour.