LibGuides: The Research Process: A Step-by-Step Guide: Search Strategy

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.

Search Smart - Truncation, Wildcard and Phrase Searching

Video Summary
How to use truncation, wildcards and phrases when searching databases

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.

Boolean Searching

Video Summary
Boolean operators – the words “AND, OR, and NOT” – are tools you can use to narrow or broaden your search results when searching for articles in library databases.

The word AND links search terms to make your database search more specific, with fewer results. If you combine your search terms with the Boolean operator AND, you are telling the database to display articles with all your search terms, not just one or the other.

The Boolean operator OR allows you to search for a concept using synonyms. Using the word OR broadens your search and delivers more results, because you are directing the database to return results with either of your search terms.

Use the Boolean operator NOT to eliminate specific words or terms from your results. The word NOT limits your search, and delivers fewer results from your database search.

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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.