Effective Searching Strategies and Techniques Objectives n n
Effective Searching Strategies and Techniques
Objectives n n n Understanding the importance of effective searching Development of guidelines for planning and implementing searches Gain experience of structuring effective searches in a range of different environments
Strategy n n n Define your information need Decide which sources to use Find out how they function Run your search Review and refine you search
Information Required Phase 1 n n What sort of information are you looking for? Who is going to use the information? Phase 2 n Keywords Selection n n Keywords from the article Related Key Concepts Synonyms Alternative spellings Plurals or Capitalisation
Key Words Selection Search for Health Implications of Water Pollution Keywords: Concepts: Synonyms: Alt. Spells: Plurals: Capitals: ‘water’ ‘pollution’ ‘health’ ‘Environmental Degradation’ or ‘agricultural management’ or ‘health’ rivers, lakes, sea, ’domestic water, ‘oil spills’, chemical, biological, etc none river(s), lake(s), disease(s) Name of a specific lake, disease, region
Search Comparisons Acid Google Cross Reference 26, 000 - Halogen Acid Hydrochloric Acid 240, 000 - 531, 000 80, 500 Blackwell All Journals 98, 190 552 1, 068 Chemistry 18, 195 69 79 All Journals with “” - 1 1, 018 Chemistry with “” - 0 78 Search Slides
Sources What sources are appropriate for your information need? n Chemistry n Multidisciplinary Familiarization with databases
Search Features in Resources Features Available Symbol/Details Boolean AND Yes AND Boolean OR Yes OR Boolean NOT Yes NOT Phrase Searching Yes “” No $, ? , *, ! - Truncation/Wildcard Case Sensitive Fields - Full Text, Article, Keyword, Abstract Stop Words Blackwell Synergy
Boolean Operators
Other Features n n Disciplines and Availability Search Criteria n n n Disciplines Subjects Search Types n n Basic Advance Saved Quick
QUESTIONS
THANKS
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