PAD 711: Public Personnel Administration Practice: Research Tips

Depending on your topic, you may find it helpful to use terms such as those listed below in a variety of combinations (e.g. "public administration" and "personnel selection").

• City managers
• Civil service
• Collective bargaining
• Compensation
• Employee attitude
• Federal government
• Government employees
• Hiring
• Human resource management
• Job satisfaction
• Local government
• Negotiations
• Performance appraisal
• Performance evaluation
• Personnel selection
• Public administration
• Public sector
• Recruitment
• Retention

The Boolean search strategy allows you to combine  - or connect - multiple terms into a single search, thereby allowing for a more focused search. The result of a successful Boolean search is a list of results targeted to your specific topic. Knowing how to do a Boolean search is especially helpful when searching large databases for relevant articles. Here is a quick and understandable tutorial if you need more information: