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SOC/CRJ 4324: Social Science Research Methods

This step-by-step guide will assist you through the various stages of the research process.

Tip!

Are you finding too much information or perhaps not enough? Use alternative, narrower, or broader keywords to vary your results.

General Search Strategies

The easiest way to search for information electronically is to enter a couple of keywords into the search box of the resource and see what type of results you get. This strategy, however, will often result in too few, too many, or irrelevant results.

In order to retrieve the most relevant results, you will need to construct a search string.  A search string is a combination of keywords, truncation symbols, and boolean operators you enter into the search box of an electronic library resource or an Internet search engine.

Boolean Operators

Boolean searching is the traditional way to search for information in most online databases and on the Internet. Boolean operators are connector words (AND, OR, and NOT) used to create phrases and concepts based on specific rules of search logic.  

  Operator       Examples   Results
  AND


  business AND ethics
  cookery AND Spain

   Retrieves records that contain    
  ALL of the search terms.
  OR


  hotels OR motels
  www OR world wide web
  theater OR theatre

   Retrieves records that contain
  ANY of the search terms, but
  does not necessarily include
  all of them.
  NOT


  java NOT coffee
  Clinton NOT (William OR Bill)    

   Excludes records containing
  the second search term.

Google Search Strategies

If your initial search query does not produce the desired results, try these search strategies:
*Results will typically include each word or punctuation mark included in the search query. Some stop words or exceptions apply.

Search Strategy Example
  • Queries are not case sensitive.
  • Barack Obama and barack obama will retrieve the same results.
  • Keep search queries simple and descriptive and use as few terms as possible.
  • Avoid natural language queries as they can limit your results.
  • Use colorado statehood instead of when did colorado first became a state.
  • Google automatically truncates search terms.
  • To prevent automatic truncation, use a + sign before each term.
  • A query on child retrieves results with 'children" and "childcare"
  • Use double quotation marks ("") to search terms as a phrase and narrow your results.
  • Google will only retrieve results with those exact terms in the exact order typed.
  • A query on "Barack Hussein Obama II" will retrieve only those sites that refer to Obama by his full name.
  • Sites that refer to him as simply 'Barack Obama' may be overlooked.
  • Use site: to limit your results to a specific website or class of websites.
  • [keyword term] site: [site name]
  • The query cloning site:online.wsj.com will only retrieve articles about cloning from the online version of the Wall Street Journal
  • The query cloning site:.gov will only retrieve results within the government domain
  • To allow for multiple keywords to appear in your results, use the OR operator.
  • The operator must be in all caps.
  • A query on hotel OR lodging OR inn directories will retrieve any or all of the types of directories mentioned.