4.4: Creating a Search Statement
- Page ID
- 324668
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Once you have your research plan, you can begin conducting your research in earnest! While you can search using only keywords, there are other tools you can use to improve your results.
Using Keywords
As we've discussed, the key topics of your research questions can be broken down into essential and optional keywords. Essential keywords will be featured in most of your searches, although you may have synonyms that you can swap in at times. You will often need to conduct multiple searches by trying out combinations of different keywords. You should conduct one or more keyword searches for each of your research questions. Each research question focuses on a specific information need and you will likely need to conduct different searches for each.
Boolean Operators
Words or symbols used to define the relationships between keywords in your search.
Library databases, and many public search engines, allow you to use boolean operators to better refine your search. When a search engine or database searches for your keywords, it will look for every single one of those keywords somewhere in each source of information.
AND, OR, NOT
Putting AND, OR, or NOT in-between two keywords changes how the database searches for them. AND is the default. Even if you do not include AND in-between two keywords, the search will look for both words. It will find those words anywhere within the source, whether they are located near to each other or not.
Putting OR in-between two keywords will make the search look for information sources that have either of the words in it. The information source does not have to have both terms. This is useful when you want to search using similar keywords. For example: cloning OR genetics OR reproduction
Putting NOT in-between two keywords will make the search avoid information sources that have the second keyword in it. This can be useful when you have a word that keeps coming up in your searches but are not relevant to your information need. For example: animals NOT mammals
Phrase Searching
A phrase search allows you to locate more than one keyword grouped together as a phrase. You can use phrase searching when you want to find information sources that have the keywords close together rather than located anywhere within the document. In order to conduct a phrase search, you put quotation marks around the keyword phrase. For example: "job satisfaction" would locate sources with those words right next to each other.
Nesting
For greater precision in your results, you can use parentheses to group portions of your search together. This is generally used in combination with phrase searching or AND/OR/NOT. For example: fruit AND (banana OR apple).
For another example: "qualitative research" AND (survey NOT interview)
Truncation
Truncation involves using an asterisk to shorten a keyword. This tells the search to find all versions of that word - searching using different word-endings starting where the asterisk is.
| Truncated word | Example words that will be searched |
| child* | child, childhood, childlike, children |
| hospital* | hospital, hospitals, hospitalize, hospitalized, hospitalization |
| music* | music, musician, musical |
| politic* | politics, political, politically, politician |