CHEM 304: Statistical Thermodynamics and Kinetics (HC) Fall 2022

Example

How do chemical kinetics play a role in food safety?

Step 1: Break up this research question into two or three main concepts. Ignore extraneous words.

• Concept #1: chemical kinetics
• Concept #2: food safety

Step 2: Conduct an initial search with these words, and quickly scan the results. 

Step 3: Using information from your initial search, add synonyms, acronyms, and variant spellings.

• Concept #1: chemical kinetics
• Concept #2: food safety, food preservation, food deterioration, food microbial

• Even if the search engine you are using doesn't require you to enter boolean operators, it is still using them behind the scenes. It will help you to know the logic behind your search
  .
• AND gives you results that include ALL of your concepts.
   
• OR gives you results that include ANY of your concepts.
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• Essentially, you are searching:​

(chemical kinetics) AND (food safety OR food preservation OR food deterioration OR food microbial)