Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library: Search Terms & Strategies

In searching for information from print or electronic resources, finding too much is just as frustrating as finding too little. Some information will be irrelevant, out-dated, or not appropriate for your intended audience.

How best to start to make a search successful?

Begin by asking yourself the following questions:

• How much time do I have to gather needed information? Remember, research takes time; not all pertinent information will be at your fingertips.
• Who is my intended audience? How much background information, if any, will I need to provide for them?
• Is there a specialized vocabulary for my topic or discipline? Do I need to define such terms? Will synonyms help?
• Do I need to use plural or singular forms, spelling variants, or acronyms? Have there been name changes, e.g. Ceylon to Sri Lanka, Esso to Exxon?
• What type of material is needed? Will the information I seek most likely be in books or periodicals? Do I need current information (magazines or newspapers) or historical, background information (encyclopedias)? Is statistical information required? Then I probably will need a variety of resources - books found in our online catalog, and journal articles found by using several different online indexes/abstracts and full-text databases.

Next, you want to summarize your topic and identify the key concepts:

• Most topics can be broken down into two or three main concepts.

Once you have each main concept, think of synonyms, broader, narrower, and related terms

• Check the database thesaurus to help you determine some of these terms.

Combine all your concepts and terms with Boolean Operators

• "AND" - use this to connect terms that must be in a record or citation. This will narrow a search as both terms must be present in a record.  Use this between each concept since each concept must come back in your results.
• "OR" - use this to connect synonyms. This will broaden a search since only one term specified must be present to be identified.  Use this between your synonyms, boarder, narrower, and related terms since any of them can come back in your results.
• "NOT" - use with caution since this will eliminate records with the specified term. Be very careful when you use this as it eliminated anything that mentions the word your eliminate. 

Remember:

• Make the database work for you.  Select "Advanced Search" or a similar option.  Most databases give you multiple search boxes for your concepts and terms.  Use each box for 1 concept and it's terms.
• Not everything you may need is on the Internet or in a full-text database.