Creative Arts Therapy

Keeping track of your research will make things a lot easier in the long run. Figure out a way that works for you, maybe a notebook, maybe an online document, perhaps sending emails to a particular folder - something that makes sense to you.

What to track:

• Which databases you are using and what keywords you use in each one. You will get different results with specific keywords depending on the database. Tracking this makes sure you won't keep going back to the same place and putting in the same keywords and not getting any new or better results.

• Citation information (refer to the Citing Sources tab for information on formatting citations). There's nothing more frustrating than being in the middle of writing a paper and discovering that you can't remember where you found a certain article. If you can't find the full citation, you won't be able to use it in your paper.

• Dates that you conduct searches. If you're working on a longer-term project, you may have gaps of time between research sessions. Databases are constantly adding new material, so you may want to repeat a particularly successful search if some time has passed to see what's new.

Remember that with library resources, it pays to search smart:

• use AND in between search terms to group them together

• use OR for more results

• use NOT if you want to exempt a word from your results

• use quotation marks "_" to isolate phrases

• use the wildcard * to get all versions of a word

Building a bank of keywords will make the rest of your research much simpler.

1. Gather background information, which will give you some key words to start with, and make your research a little easier.

2. Brainstorm other search terms: think of synonyms, or more technical terms, or official language vs. colloquial language

3. Think of some narrower search terms to get even more specific and some broader words in case you aren't finding much.

4. Think about what ideas and terms are related to your subject that might also be helpful.

Even when you've got a good keyword bank started, keep adding to it! If you find a good article or book, look at the data record to see what other terms and subjects are used to describe it.

Subject headings are predetermined terms that describe the topic of a particular resource, such as a book or article.  Although most people will begin their search with keywords, the use of subject headings can sometimes help narrow your search by eliminating irrelevant results.  If your keyword searches haven't proven too successful, subject headings can sometimes provide additional vocabulary terms that might improve your search results.

Examples of subject headings in creative arts therapy include:

• Art--health aspects
• Art-psychological aspects
• Art and society
• Art therapy
• Art therapy for children
• Arts--Therapeutic use
• Creation (literary, artistic, etc.)--Therapeutic use
• Dance--health aspects
• Dance--psychological aspects
• Dance therapy
• Drama--Therapeutic use
• Eurhythmics [also spelled Eurythmics]
• Eurhythmy [also spelled Eurythmy]
• Mind and body therapies
• Movement, psychology of
• Movement therapy
• Psychotherapy

SIFT is a method you can use to evaluate your sources to help determine whether they are credible and reliable. Simply use the four moves below if you are worried about whether a source is trustworthy:

Stop

If you have a strong reaction to information you come across, this is a good indication to do more research. 

Ask yourself whether you know the source of the information, as well as that source's reputation. If you don’t have that information, use the other moves to get a sense of what you’re looking at.

Investigate the Source

Take time to look up the source and the author. Is this source credible? Is the author impartial, or do they have a vested interest in the argument that is being made?

One way to quickly determine an author or organization's agenda is to check their Wikipedia page.

Find Better Coverage

Try checking other sources to see how they are covering the topic you are researching. Scanning multiple sources quickly can help you determine the consensus around an issue or claim.

Trace Claims, Quotes and Media

Track down the original source of claims, quotes and media. Reputable news articles will provide links within the text, and academic articles provide sources in their footnotes and bibliography. Tracking down the original source will provide context and will show if that source was misrepresented in the article you are evaluating.

Caulfield, M. (2019, June 19).  SIFT (The Four Moves). Hapgood. https://hapgood.us/2019/06/19/sift-the-four-moves/.