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Step 2:
Search strategies
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Define your
research topic. Break your research statement down into its
component keywords.
| Research topic |
Example Keywords |
| I am looking for information
on the current activities of non-governmental organizations in
Africa. |
non-govermental organizations
/ Africa |
| What are the best treatments
for anorexia? |
treatment / anorexia |
| What is the relationship
between American blue grass music and traditional Irish music? |
blue grass / Irish music |
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Do the search by combining the terms.
If you are using an online index database, you can usually combine
terms in a search,. using "Boolean operators" to tell the index
database exactly what you need. The table below illustrates the
action of each operator.
| Operator |
Action |
Example |
Result |
| AND |
both terms are found in the
article |
anorexia AND
treatment |
articles about the treatment
of anorexia |
| OR |
either one term or
the other is found in the article |
anorexia OR
bulimia |
all the articles on anorexia
and all the articles on bulimia |
| NOT |
the first term is found and
the second term is not |
anorexia NOT
diet |
articles about anorexia that
do not mention diet |
By far the most important and most frequently
used Boolean operator is AND, since most researchers are
interested in articles that contain all of their search terms.
Many databases have search screens that assume the AND operator,
and all the researcher has to do is enter the search terms.
Example below:
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Expand the search
Too few articles? Increase the scope of your search by:
1. Use synonyms. For
example, if the phrase "car ownership" isn't getting enough
articles, use the phrases "automobile ownership" and "auto
ownership".
2. Use the wildcard symbol, usually a question
mark inside a word, to find variations on that word or if you ar
unsure of the spelling. For example, use the wildcard symbol in
wom?n to find both woman and women. Use the database's Help
button to find out exactly what the truncation and wildcard
symbols are for that database. Again, be aware that the wildcard
symbol varies among databases. To find out what it is in the
database you are using, click on the Help button on the
database's search screen.
3 . Use truncation to capture various forms of a search term.
For example, adding the truncation symbol - -
an asterisk - - to the root comput* retrieves articles with the
words compute, computer, computing, and computers. Be aware that
the truncation symbol varies among databases. To find out what
the truncation symbol is in the database you are using, click on
the Help button on the database's search screen.
4 . Carefully expand the subject. If you can't
find articles about automobile ownership in Madrid, you may have
to expand your search to automobile ownership in all of Spain.
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Limit the search
Too many articles? Limit or narrow your search by:
1. Add a third keyword term. Example:
non-governmental organizations AND Africa
AND AIDS
2. Limit by date or limit to only the current year.
3. Limit by publication type. For example, it may be possible to
limit your search to just journal articles or to just full text
articles.
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Shortcut: Use subject
headings effectively
Examine one or two good articles and see what the
subject headings are. If you find good ones, re-run the search
using those subject headings. See an example, below. The original
search was run using the two terms 'happy' and 'marriage'. After
looking at the subject headings in this citation, the efficient
researcher would re-run the search using the phrase 'marital
satisfaction'.
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Get more help
When in doubt of which symbol to use for truncation in a
particular database, or if you need assistance with any other
feature, press the Help button in that database.
Consult these special guides to individual databases:
Another excellent online tutorial for effective searching of
electronic databases:
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