The
development of an effective search strategy is essential to obtaining
satisfactory results. A plan for a typical search strategy should
follow these steps:
1. Formulate
the topic or question to be researched and its scope.
2. Identify
key concepts.
3. Identify
terms that describe the concepts.
4. Consider
synonyms and variations on the concepts.
5. Begin your
research either at LION
or on Library
databases. Do not use the free web
and do not use Google, MSNsearch, Dogpile, Hotbot, AOLsearch etc.
Search databases
using Boolean logic.
Boolean Logic,
was developed by the 19th century English mathematician, George
Boole. It offers a powerful way of searching electronic databases
and the Internet. Boolean logic operators AND and NOT
will always narrow your search, and allow you to be more specific.
They decrease the number of citations retrieved
by the database or search engine. The Boolean operator OR
will do the opposite. OR explodes the number of
search results, giving you dramatically increased numbers
of citations returned by your search. Use
Boolean operators to make your searches more accurate, quick
and relevant to your needs.
AND
is the most frequently used operator. A search using AND
will look like this:
cold zinc
In the search
above we are trying to find information about how zinc affects the
common cold. Note that this is an AND search but
we did not type out:
cold and zinc
This is because
most search engines understand a space between two words to mean
exactly the same thing as typing the word AND.
By putting <cold zinc> (without the brackets) into a search
box, it is exactly the same as typing <cold and zinc>. Typing
<cat possum skunk raccoon> is exaclty the same as typing <cat
and possum and skunk and raccoon>.
Every time you
add a word to an AND search you will get fewer
and fewer results from your search. That is to say, if we search
<poverty> we might get back 4,420,000 hits. Way too many to
look at! But if we refine that search by adding more search terms,
we will get fewer hits and they will be closer to what we really
want to know.
Example:
poverty = 4,420,000
hits
poverty nutrition = 384,000 hits
poverty nutrition health = 332,000 hits
poverty nutrition
health children = 284,000 hits
poverty nutrition health children florida = 24,900 hits
poverty nutrition health children florida wakulla = 124 hits
Now we're down
to 124 hits on a very specific topic. See how using the AND
operator focuses your search quickly and effectively?
NOT
is the second most frequently used Boolean operator. Like AND,
it dramatically reduces the number of search results you get, when
you use more words. But unlike AND, NOT tells the
search engine words that you do not want to see in your search results.
You do not have to type the word NOT. Just use a minus sign
in front of each of the terms that you do not want in your search.
This is particularly useful when you are searching a site like eBay.
In the following example, we want to buy a pager from eBay - not
pager accessories.
Example:
pager = 1050
hits
pager -holster = 840 hits
pager -holster -clip = 814 hits
pager -holster -clip -car = 615 hits
pager -holster -clip -car -pepper = 601 hits
pager -holster -clip -car -pepper -phone = 584 hits
pager -holster -clip -car -pepper -phone -charger = 551 hits
We've cut the
original list in half, and we could cut it even more just by adding
one brand name to our search.
The last Boolean
operator, OR, is used to generate more
results. A search using OR will look like this:
recipe chocolate
= 4,810,000 hits (This is an AND search)
recipe chocolate OR almonds = 5,190,000 hits
recipe chocolate OR almonds OR coconut = 5,240,000 hits
The best time
to use the OR search is when you are not sure how
to spell your search terms or there is more than one legitimate
name of the thing you are searching. That is use
OR when your topic has more than one name. For
example:
"e.a. poe"
OR "edgar allen poe" OR "edgar allan poe" OR
poe OR "ea poe"
NOW OR "national organization of women"
NRA OR "national rifle organization"
"standards of learning"
OR SOL
The last thing
you need to know to be an effective database searcher is the Phrase
Search. Use Phrase Searches when you want
to find two or more words together in exact order. Place
the words you want to find in quotation marks to keep them together.
Phrase searches make finding lyrics, organizations, speeches and
contests easy. For example:
"win a
chevrolet"
"win a subaru"
"national rifle association"
These are examples
of blended searches. For the most searching power, blend AND,
NOT and Phrase Searches:
"thank God almighty I'm free" speech
"while I pondered weak" poem
"better get this party started" Pink lyrics
"women's music" -folk
If you have
comments, questions, or would like to add a site, write to me.
Lisa N. Johnston (email: lnjohnston at sbc dot edu), Associate Director/ Head of Public Services, Sweet
Briar College LibraryRevised 1/08. |
