Formulating a Search Strategy

This material was compiled at Heartland Area Education Agency 11, Johnston, Iowa 50131-1603 by Susan Schrader. Originally published © January 1997 in Internet Brief NOTES. Reproduced with permission.

Basic points to consider when formulating a search strategy:

  • Recognize general and specific topics.
  • Identify key words.
  • Choose appropriate terms.
  • Recognize relationship of terms.
  • Enter the search terms or strategy according to the specifications of the search engine.

Revising a search strategy:

  • Synonyms
  • Variant spellings, truncation, and wildcard searching.
  • Logical operators.
  • Indexes.
  • Nature of the topic (pros/cons, compare/contrast, cause/effect, etc.)

Searching is a process.

  • Choose the search engine appropriate to the subject or type of search being done.
  • Write the search query in a complete sentence.
  • Write all the synonyms and descriptors, including variant word forms for truncation.
  • Write down all the search statements including operators.

Ideas for Good Search Statements

  • Does the term have several meanings? For example, a search on the term "apple" may retrieve information on the Apple as a company and apple as a fruit. How could the distinction be made in the seach statement/query? Is capitalization important in the search engine chosen?
  • Does the term cover the subject adequately or should other terms be used as well? Is truncation needed?
  • Terms may be searched full text or within specific fields in a record. Is the correct field chosen?
  • Have the search items been chosen in the context of the search engine being used?
  • Have the appropriate limiters been used such as: "", +, -, []?

Common search problems occur because some . . .

  • Subjects are not covered thoroughly in the internet.
  • Subjects have not been written about at all or information is not publicly available.
  • Subjects may be too new to have been discussed in the literature.
  • Questions are factual in nature and may be answered best by texts or other reference sources.

Checklist for zero or irrelevant results

  • Too many concepts (Boolean logic)?
  • Parenthese for nesting (separating ANDs ORs) were used incorrectly?
  • Concepts or terms over specified?
  • Truncation needed or applied correctly (minimum word stem)?
  • Too few synonyms?
  • Proximity operators too restrictive?
  • AND used when OR was appropriate?
  • Typing or spelling error?
  • No information is available on the topic.
  • Capitalization was used inappropriately?
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Using Internet Search Engines
Darrow's List
Begun February 26, 1997
Last edited February 26, 1997
http://www.uni.edu/darrow/reference/search/strategy.html