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Help & Training - Developing a Search Strategy |
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Once you have identified your key words or phrases, you may proceed with developing your search stragegy. This will involve listing all your key words or phrases along with synonyms or related search terms and deciding on the best way to combine these search terms.
Sometimes it is useful to use a template to guide you through the steps.
Once you have your search terms, you may structure your search using the links AND, OR, and NOT. These links are called Boolean operators.
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Boolean Operator
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Purpose
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Example
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AND
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Limit a search by retrieving items containing both search terms | mobile phones AND health |
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OR
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Expand a search by retrieving items with either search term | teenagers OR adolescents |
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NOT
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Focus a search by retrieving items with first term while excluding items with second term | pasta NOT spaghetti |
Most library catalogues and electronic databases use Boolean operators, although this is not always apparent. Use the "advanced search" or "help" options available in catalogues and databases, to see which search options are available to you.
complex searches
When doing a complex search you may find better results are obtained by doing it in smaller stages.
Example:
Discuss the health effects of mobile phones on teenagers.
A search strategy for locating information to answer this question might be:
| Search 1 | health AND mobile phones |
| Search 2 | teenagers OR adolescents |
| Search 3 | combine Search 1 AND Search 2 |
Once you have decided on the appropriate search strategies it is time to select the appropriate resources (catalogues, databases, the Internet, etc.) to use.
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Last updated:
15 December, 2004
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