Used to typing in a phrase in Google and getting results? You could do this in a library database, but you'll be sifting through unnecessary and irrelevant results if you do. Having a strategy simply helps you make the most of your research the first time around.
What will having a search strategy do for you?
What are limits and why use them?
Limits are helpful in focusing your search. Once you've done your initial search you can use some limits to help you narrow your results to a more manageable amount of information.
After you brainstorm keywords, you need to know how to use them to search for resources.
Search Strategy |
What it does |
Example |
AND (Boolean Operator) |
All terms must appear Narrows your search Fewer results Use to include multiple unique concepts |
“coffee AND Brazil” searches for all articles that include both terms, coffee and Brazil |
OR (Boolean Operator) |
Either term may appear Broadens your search More results Use for related concepts |
“coffee OR caffeine” searches for either term in the articles |
NOT (Boolean Operator) |
Removes a term from your search Narrows your search Fewer results Use for concepts you do not want to include |
“South America NOT Brazil” searches for articles on South America and removes articles with the word Brazil in them |
Phrases |
Search for exact phrases Narrows your search Fewer results |
“ecological tourism” searches for that phrase in that particular order |
Truncation |
Searches for all forms of a word Broadens your search More results Use to search for the root word of a concept |
Add an asterisk * to the root or stem of a word A search for “tour*” will look for tour, tourism, tourist |