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Search Makeover: The Pandemic Hurt "Working Mothers" More than Any Other Group
- The Problem:
- I am not satisfied with the results of my MasterFile Premier search for "working mothers" and the COVID-19 Pandemic.
- Although the search was executed well, I only found two articles!
- Though the scholarly databases provided great articles, they seem too academic for my needs.
- I'm looking for articles that talk about real people and tell their stories of how they are coping with balancing work, motherhood, and the pandemic.
- Strategy A:
- Try other key words from the titles of the articles we did find:
- "working mothers" or "working moms"
- coping or surviving
- Be persistent in scrolling through new search results to find an article you like
- Click on the subject headings in an article to link to similar articles
- For example:
- Strategy B:
- Execute a "Field Search."
- Change the drop-down menu to the right of the search terms to "Abstract." This will bring up articles with these terms in the abstract.
- This increases the relevancy of your search.
- Strategy C:
Search Makeover Examples
- Changed to Gale General One File.
- Though I only got one hit, I got many "cross references" from this one hit.
- Notice that the hits include news articles and press releases.
- Looking at these articles, I find that a major issue for working women and the pandemic is child care:
Revising My MasterFile Search to Include "Child Care"
- As a result of changing my search to "working mothers" and "childcare" and "pandemic," I find good articles.
- Childcare is the root of many women's employment struggles during the pandemic.
