|
Class
Resources
Syllabus
Class
Schedule
Presentation
Case
Case
Readings
Library
Resources
LC
OPACs
Reference
Works
Databases
Periodicals
Internet Resources
Guide
to Searching
Evaluating Sites/Sources
Other
Resources
Citing
Sources
FAQ
|
MB107: Internet Resources
Guide to Searching
[ basic
concepts ] [ guides
]
_____________________________________________Basic Concepts
Boolean Operators
- AND, +
Narrows the search by requiring all search terms to be found in the
results.
- hardware and tools
- +hardware +tools
- OR
Broadens the search by requiring at least one of the search terms
to be found in the results. Useful when searching for synonyms.
- NOT, -
Narrows the search by excluding certain search terms from the results.
- dolphins not miami
- +"independence day" -movie
- NEAR
Some search engines allow proximity searching and will look for search
terms within X number of words of each other.
Field or Segment Searching
Searches for terms in specified parts of the document and may include
the title, urls, links, text, images, and anchors.
Phrase Searching
Requires the terms to appear in the exact order that they are typed.
Most systems that allow phrase searching have the user enter the phrase
in quotes.
- "former soviet republics"
Ranking Results
Ordering the search results based on certain criteria of relevance.
Search engines rank results differently. Many rely on a frequency count
of the search terms, i.d., those documents in which the search term
appears many times will rank higher than those documents with fewer
occurrences of the term. Some search engines combine frequency with
location, i.e., if the search term appears in the title or header of
the document it is ranked higher.
Search Forms
A standard Internet display screen that often includes:
- a 'text box' to enter the search query
- a button to submit the query or start the search (sometimes the or key)
- a 'drop down' menu for you to select choices from a list
Truncation
Searches for variants of a word by using a symbol to represent one or
more characters. The most common symbols are * (asterisks), ? (question
marks), and ! (exclamation marks). If truncation is not supported by the
search engine use the boolean operator OR to combine like terms.
- politic*will find politics, political, politician, etc.
- wom*nwill find woman or women
Search Hints
The results from an online database search may, at times, yield too few
or too many citations or documents. Consider the following...
Low Recall or "I am not finding any sites on my topic!!"
- Have I chosen the correct database?
- Have I been too specific in formulating the search?
- Have I included all possible terms and word forms? Should I use
truncation?
- Was Boolean logic used correctly?
- Did I make a technical error, e.g., spelling, or command syntax?
Low Precision or "I found hundreds of citations and many are not
on my topic!!"
- Delete less specific synonyms and ambiguous terms
- Search fewer fields e.g., just the title field or URL
- Add additional facets with AND or NOT
- Add restrictions, e.g., date of publication
back
to top
___________________________________________Internet Guides
The following sites provide helpful hints on selecting and
using search engines.
back
to top |