Transcript Plan your research stragegy - Carson

Developing a
Search Statement
STEPHENS-BURNETT MEMORIAL LIBRARY
CARSON-NEWMAN COLLEGE
Planning Your Research Strategy
You don’t have to search far and wide to find what
you need. This tutorial will teach you how to make the
most of your research; you’ll be efficient and skilled in
no time! You’ll learn about:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Searching online databases
Identifying key words and concepts
Developing a search statement
Learning about keyword versus subject searching in
databases
Searching online?
When you search online, what do you search?
The Web, right?
For college research, the web is NOT usually the best
place to look for finding scholarly information.
In this section of the tutorial we are going to cover
searching databases that are provided by the library.
What is a database?
• Essentially, a database is a place where
information (articles from journals, magazines,
newspapers, etc.) is stored electronically.
• It could be thought of as an electronic filing
cabinet.
How do you “talk to” a database?
A database cannot understand regular “human language.” For
example, you cannot go to a database and say “How can you
prevent drug use by college students?”
Instead, you will enter only the words that a database will
recognize.
How do you do that?
• Step 1: Select only the important words or ideas (also known
as keywords) from your research question.
• Step 2: Connect the keywords in a search statement
Click here to watch this video to learn more
about searching in a database…
Identifying the key words or concepts
• First, look at your research question:
“How can you prevent drug use by college students?”
• Now pull out only the key ideas that you are
looking for (find your keywords):
drug use
college students
prevent
Look at a few more examples to get the hang
of it (the keywords are underlined for you):
1.
2.
3.
4.
What effect does ADHD have on learning?
What are the causes of child abuse?
I need some statistics on depression in college students.
What are some methods of preventing binge drinking in
teenagers or college students?
Now you know how to identify your keywords. But how do
you use them to search the database?
You will use these keywords to develop your search
statement. Let’s see how this is done…
Developing a search statement:
• If you are only searching for one keyword or phrase, simply enter
that term in the database.
Examples:
drug use
depression
voting rights
• However, if you have multiple key concepts in a search statement
such as drug use by college students, you will have to combine
these terms in a search statement. You will combine them with
the terms or, and, or not (also called Boolean Operators).
The next slide shows you how Boolean Operators work…
How Boolean Operators Work
What are the Boolean Operators? OR, AND & NOT
OR….
You enter: cat or feline
You get back: cat, feline, or cat & feline
 Use for similar terms
 Retrieves record with any of the terms present
 Broadens your search
AND…
You enter: cat and health
You get back: cat & health only
 Use with differing concepts
 Retrieves records with all the terms present
 Narrows your search
NOT…
You enter: cat not dog
You get back: cat only
 Excludes a term from your search
 Use carefully in order not to miss useful records!
OR
AND
NOT
How to use Boolean Operators
in your search statement:
1. What are the effects of drug use by college students?
• Keywords?
drug use, college students
• Search statement using Boolean?
drug use AND college students
2. What are some methods of preventing binge drinking in
teenagers or college students?
• Keywords?
prevention, binge drinking , teenagers, college students
• Search statement using Boolean?
prevention and binge drinking and (teenagers or college students)
(Put Parentheses around two OR terms when searched with terms using AND)
Searching Options: Keyword versus Subject
Most databases will give you the option of performing a
Keyword search or a Subject search.
These two types of searches are conducted differently
and will often produce different results.
Keyword vs. Subject at a Glance:
KEYWORD SEARCHING
SUBJECT SEARCHING
Searches terms in several fields such as
title, subject, or abstract.
Searches only the subject heading field,
using one key term or concept.
Use everyday language
Searches the subject guide or thesaurus of
the database to identify appropriate
subject heading
Can combine several topics in one search
Then uses subject heading to start a
search. Often can combine subject
headings in a search.
Finds only the word or words you
Can sometimes be difficult to figure out
searched, not other spellings or synonyms. the subject term
May produce more results than Subject
May produce fewer results than Keyword
Search; but results that may be irrelevant. Search; but produces very precise and
relevant results
When to use Keyword or Subject
Use a Keyword Search when:
• You are searching a new trend or concept, or a very distinctive topic
• You need a quick search
• You are searching a complex topic with several key terms
• The subject terms are not known
• You want to exclude a concept from your search
• Subject searching is not available
Use a Subject Search when:
• You are searching a broad topic
• You are searching for an already-established topic
• You are trying to retrieve all items in a database on your topic
• You are looking for information about someone, something, or a place
• You want to retrieve very relevant records in your search
Now You Know:
After completing this module, you should have learned:
• The definition and function of a database
• How to identify the key words for your search statement
• How to use Boolean Operators to develop your search statement
• The differences between Keyword and Subject searching, and
when to use each type
Coming Up:
You will continue learning where and how to search
for the different types of resources used in college
research. You will do this in the next 3 units.
Coming Up:
Unit 4: Finding Books in the Library Catalog
Unit 5: Finding Articles in a C-N Database
Unit 6: Using and Evaluating Web Pages
And Don’t Forget…
Need help?
Ask a Librarian!
The C-N Reference Librarians are here and happy to help
with any questions you may have.
Call, Click, or Visit!
Ms. Kelli Williams
Mrs. Lew Conerly
471-3338
471-3340
[email protected]
[email protected]
Our offices are on the main floor of the Library.
http://library.cn.edu