Slide 1 How can I develop an effective search strategy? How Can I Develop an Effective Search Strategy?
Part of the InfoRhode Tutorial Series
University of Rhode Island Libraries
Slide 2 Developing an effective search strategy can help you find information on a topic more quickly and easily than entering a question or phrase into a database, search engine, or catalog. Why Develop a Search Strategy?
§ Good search strategies produce better results than entering a question or phrase into a search tool
§ Avoids unintentional limiting of results
Slide 3 That’s because search tools look for the exact terms you type in, and entering too many words -­‐ or too many unimportant words -­‐ can unintentionally limit your results. Once your research question is formulated and some of the main concepts are identified, you can begin to develop a search strategy that will help you when you actually go to find information on your topic. Research 100 Paper Topic
How Transportation Choices Affect
the Environment
The following example shows how search terms can be created from research questions and concepts: Suppose the topic for your paper is how transportation choices affect the environment. How can I develop an effective search strategy? – InfoRhode Tutorial 1 Slide 4 First, transform your topic into a question: “How do transportation choices affect the environment?” Research Question
How Do Transportation Choices
Affect the Environment?
Slide 5 Identify the major concepts in this question: Research Question
In this case, our first major concept is transportation. How Do Transportation Choices
Affect the Environment?
Slide 6 Our second major topic is environment. Research Question
How Do Transportation Choices
Affect the Environment?
How can I develop an effective search strategy? – InfoRhode Tutorial 2 Slide 7 What are some possible synonyms or related terms for each of these concepts? transportation
environment
travel
air quality
commuting
pollution
cars
Transportation -­‐ some synonyms might be travel, commuting, cars ecology
greenhouse gases
Slide 8 Environment -­‐ some synonyms might be air quality, pollution, ecology, or greenhouse gases Use these terms and synonyms to create some sample searches for your topic: Sample Searches
transportation AND environment transportation AND environment
commuting AND pollution
commuting AND pollution travel AND greenhouse gases
transportation AND air quality
travel AND greenhouse gasses transportation AND air quality It’s important to think of the language that good sources would use to describe your topic. An appropriate source for college-­‐
level research would likely use technical or sophisticated terms. For example, good sources might say “motor vehicles” rather than “cars,” and “ozone layer depletion” rather than “greenhouse gases.” Slide 9 transportation
environment
travel
air quality
commuting
pollution
cars
ecology
motor vehicles
greenhouse gases
ozone layer depletion
How can I develop an effective search strategy? – InfoRhode Tutorial 3 Slide 10 Once you’re ready to search, you can search for each set of terms on its own, or you can combine synonyms in the search boxes using OR to link possible synonyms. transportation OR travel environment OR ecology Slide 11 Creating a good search strategy may take some brainstorming and involve some trial and error. As you search, look at the results you get for clues to finding more terms for your search. Slide 12 In this case, “climatic changes” looks good. You might want to revise your search strategy and include new terms you discover as you go along to locate more books, articles and websites. How can I develop an effective search strategy? – InfoRhode Tutorial 4 Slide 13 If you need assistance formulating a good search strategy, or would just like some ideas, please feel free to contact a librarian! How can I develop an effective search strategy? – InfoRhode Tutorial 5