Lyla P. Gonzaga
Student
Email: lylagonza08@gmail.com
Note: This guide was created as one of the requirements for the LIS subject, Information Literacy.
Information searching is a process, which people undertake to locate or retrieve specific information to meet an information need, typically, but not always with the aid of a search engine or other information retrieval system.
Information searching can be described as a process with several steps containing the formulation of a search question, choice of search terms, searching, critical evaluation of sources, and in some cases presentation of the search strategy. Databases, search engines, library catalogues and websites are examples of resources where you can find scientific information.
BingGeneral web search engine from Microsoft.
Google ScholarOne of Google's specialized search tools, Google Scholar focuses primarily on information from scholarly and peer-reviewed sources.
GoogleThe predominant search engine. Has a large index and results are known for their high relevancy. Includes ability to search for images, and products, among other features.
ProQuestProvides solutions, applications, and products for libraries. Its resources and tools support research and learning, publishing and dissemination, and the acquisition, management and discovery of library collections.
Search strategy & techniques
Steps of building search strategies
These are the steps required when developing a comprehensive search strategy for a systematic review:
1. Formulate the research question
2. Identify the key concepts
3. Develop search terms - free-text terms
4. Develop search terms - controlled vocabulary terms
5. Search fields
6. Phrase searching, wildcards and proximity operators
7. Boolean operators
8. Search limits
9. Pilot search strategy and monitor its development
10. Adapt search syntax for different databases
11. Final search strategy
Choose:
Form this information into a question:
Are children who play video games more likely to be violent?
Are children who play video games more likely to be violent?
To choose keywords for your search, look at your research question:
Are children who play video games more likely to be violent?
Choose words from within your question that are the most important to your search. So, in this example, you would choose "children," "video games," and "violent."
You can then use these words to search any of our databases. You might try typing "video games" in the first box and "violence" in the second search box. To narrow your results even further, try typing "children" in the third search box.
You can also try using alternative search terms for these keywords. Go to the "Using Alternative Keywords" tab of this LibGuide to learn more.
Take each of your keywords and try to come up with synonyms for them. List as many as you can. Here is an example:
Use some of these alternative search terms. Mix and match when doing a search to see what brings up the most relevant information.
Keyword Searching: AND
Combine different search terms with AND to narrow your results:
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Keyword Searching: OR
Combine search terms with OR to expand your results. This works best with similar search terms, such as "video games" OR "computer games." But you can also use different search terms.
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Keyword Searching: NOT
Combine similar search terms with NOT in order to narrow and limit your results.
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1. Extract single words or short phrases.
You will not use complete sentences as you would in normal conversation to search. Leave out minor words such as articles ("a," "an," or "the") and prepositions or verb phrases ("on," "in," or "going to").
Also, use nouns (person, place, or thing) as keywords. Avoid verbs (action words) and use adjectives (descriptive words) sparingly.
2. Experiment with different synonyms.
Try thinking of synonyms (words that have the same meaning as another word) of your keywords. For example, you start with the word "trash," but you could also experiment with using the words "garbage" or “waste.” An online or printed thesaurus is a great place to find synonyms.
3. Think of related terms to describe your topic.
What are some other topics or areas related to your thesis? These may be worthy of consideration if you are having trouble finding good keywords or if you want to further refine your research focus. For example, some related terms to "pollution" are "acid rain," "global warming," or "refuse water." The related terms may be more specific or less specific than the original terms in your thesis. Each combination will change the number and type of your search results.