What are the 4 search strategies?

Phrase Searching

Put quotation marks " " around phrases to search the term as a phrase. Otherwise the database or Google may separate the words.

"social media"     "minimum wage"   "Port Huron"

Boolean Operators

Refine your search results using Boolean operators. The three most common Boolean operators are AND, OR, and NOT, but there are others available. The operators AND and NOT will narrow your search and OR will usually increase your search results. 

AND - Use AND to find resources with all of your search terms.

“climate change” AND "national security"

“business plans” AND restaurants

"college students" AND "study habits"

OR - Use OR to find articles with either search term in them.

"Blue Water Area" OR "Thumb Coast"

colleges OR universities

restaurants OR “food industry”

ecommerce OR "online shopping"

NOT - Use NOT to eliminate terms you do not want in your search results. (Use - in Google) 

graffiti NOT "American Graffiti"

Combining Terms - Put parentheses () around the ORs if other Boolean operators are used.     

“college students” AND sleep AND ("cell phone" OR texting)

marketing AND (restaurants OR "food industry") 

Selecting a topic is the most important component of a successful search. Suggestions for finding a topic:

•Discuss your topic ideas with your class instructor and/or a reference librarian.

•Take a look at the Taking Sides series (do a title search on the words "taking sides" in the book catalog). These books offer an overview of many controversial topics and presents pro/con approaches to each topic. Great for getting ideas and for overview and background material. Also, look at  current newspapers and news magazines for other current topic ideas.  A couple of good databases to use are CQ Researcher and Opposing Viewpoints.

•Look over the index and the article titles in a specialized encyclopedia that covers the subject area or discipline of your topic (for example, psychology, United States social history, women's studies, linguistics, environmental studies, etc.).

•State your topic idea as a question, a phrase, or the title of an article or book on the subject.

Sample topic: "Can playing the violin cause repetitive stress injury to wrists and arms?"

•Now analyze the topic. Scrutinize the topic and identify keywords or phrases. If necessary, consult specialized dictionaries, encyclopedias, controlled vocabulary lists, and thesauri for more terms. Divide the keywords or phrases into concepts.

Sample:
Concept 1: violin
Concept 2: repetitive stress injury
Concept 3: wrist
Concept 4: arms

There are four kinds of searching options. Good searchers are aware of each one and when and how to use them interchangeably or based on the database requirements.

1. Word Strings:

Can also be thought of as building-block searching. Taking major words or phrases from your topic or thesis, use them various combinations or with synonyms to search databases.

2. Boolean searching:

Uses particular words to expand or narrow your search results. (They are very useful in word strings.)  See a more detailed description in the next section.

3. Changing Natural Language to Scholarly Language:
    (or subject headings and sub-headings)

Scholars don’t always use words that everyone else does. Using language from your class, textbooks, and other scholarly sources can often reveal more resources. You must also use subject headings or at least be aware of them when using databases like PubMed and Medline.

4. Citation Pearl-Growing:

If you find a good and current article, try exploring the sources cited in footnotes or bibliographies. This can help you discover the primary authors who are doing research in your field, as well as other useful resources. As always, be sure to evaluate the resource. You can also use Google Scholar's Cited by feature to discover what sources have cited the item you're looking at, to trace forward in time the topic.

Accomplished and skilled researchers are able to determine basic aspects of database organization using multiple strategies like these. When researching it is useful to understand background information, bibliographies, and the vocabulary of the discipline. You should use a wide variety of tools and use them wisely, and not depend on one specific source.

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