constructing your search

Constructing your search

Connectors, wildcards, truncation and proximity connectors

James Bisset james.bisset@durham.ac.uk Academic Liaison Librarian (Research Support)

Part 1 Intelligent Searching

Intelligent Searching

Broaden your search

and then

Narrow your search

Intelligent Searching

Broaden your search

Cast your net wide to ensure you don’t miss any potentially

useful search terms

Intelligent Searching

Narrow your searchMake sure they are the right

nets you’re casting - you only want to return those results

which are most relevant to, let the others “swim free”

Part 2

Broaden your

search

Broaden your search (1)

Broaden your search (1)

butterfly lepidoptera

Using “OR”: butterfly OR lepidoptera

Broaden your search (1)

butterfly lepidoptera

… will return all results which include either the term “butterfly” or the term “lepidoptera”, as well as all results which mention both terms.

Broaden your search (1)

Most databases assume if you don’t include the “OR” connector, you only want results where

ALL of the terms entered appear.

Broaden your search (1)

Most databases assume if you don’t include the “OR” connector, you only want results where

ALL of the terms entered appear.

e.g.

“If you want to search for pages that may have just one of several words, include OR

(capitalized) between the words. Without the OR, your results would typically show only

pages that match both terms”https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/136861?hl=en

Broaden your search (2)

Broaden your search (2)

Via Flickr Creative Commons, by Pink Sherbert Photography. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/70873497@N02/6935006104/

The problems of spelling…

Broaden your search (2)

Via Flickr Creative Commons, by Pink Sherbert Photography. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/70873497@N02/6935006104/

The problems of spelling…

Donut

Doughnut

Broaden your search (2)

• Broadening your search– Alternative spellings (wildcard

searching)– organi?ation will find:

organisation and alternative lettersorganization

Broaden your search (2)

• Broadening your search– Alternative spellings (wildcard

searching)– organi?ation will find:

organisation and alternative lettersorganization

– labo?r will find: labor and missing letters labour

Broaden your search (2)

• Broadening your search– Alternative spellings (wildcard searching)

– organi?ation will find: organisation and alternative lettersorganization

– labo?r will find: labor and missing letters labour– d?nut donut and multiple missing letters doughnut

Broaden your search (3)

Broaden your search (3)

• Broadening your search– Word stems (truncation searching)– negligen* will find:

Broaden your search (3)

• Broadening your search– Word stems (truncation searching)– negligen* will find:

“the police were accused of negligence”

Broaden your search (3)

• Broadening your search– Word stems (truncation searching)– negligen* will find:

“the police were accused of negligence”“the police were accused of acting negligently”

Broaden your search (3)

• Broadening your search– Word stems (truncation searching)– negligen* will find:

“the police were accused of negligence”“the police were accused of acting negligently”“the police were accused of being negligent”

Broaden your search

• Broadening your search - Summary– The Boolean “OR” connector butterfly OR

lepidoptera– Wildcards organi?ation

labo?r – Word stems negligen*

Terminology and symbols vary, depending on which database or catalogue you are using

Part 3

Narrow your

search

Narrow your search (1)

Using “AND”: term 1 AND term 2

teenage

“substance

abuse”

Narrow your search (1)

Using “AND”: teenage AND “substance abuse"

AND

Narrow your search (1)

teenage

“substance

abuse”

… will return only those results which include both the term “teenage” and the phrase

“substance abuse”

AND

Narrow your search (1)

Some databases will assume an “AND”

between two terms even if you don’t include it...

Narrow your search (1)

Some databases will assume an “AND”

between two terms even if you don’t include it...

... but not all.

Narrow your search (1)

Examples include:

Power Search: Requires use of ‘AND’ connector. If not included, searches for

terms appearing as a phrase.

Including the ‘AND’ connector “combines search terms so that each

search result contains all of the terms”. Not including runs a search against an account default setting (At Durham, this is “appearing within 5 words of”)http://support.ebsco.com.ezphost.dur.ac.uk/help/

index.php?help_id=35

Narrow your search (1)

Get in to the habit of using it.

Narrow your search (1)

Get in to the habit of using it.

1) Avoid mistakes.

Narrow your search (1)

Get in to the habit of using it.

1) Avoid mistakes. 2) Make cutting & pasting your search between databases easier.

Narrow your search (2)

Via Flickr Creative Commons, by the waving cat. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewavingcat/138657496/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Adding context:

Narrow your search (2)

Adding context:

truthAND

reconciliationVia Flickr Creative Commons, by the waving cat. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewavingcat/138657496/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Narrow your search (2)

Adding context:Will return results where both terms appear...

Via Flickr Creative Commons, by the waving cat. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewavingcat/138657496/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Narrow your search (2)

Adding context:Will return results where both terms appear... Anywhere.

Via Flickr Creative Commons, by the waving cat. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewavingcat/138657496/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Narrow your search (2)

Adding context:Will return results where both terms appear... Anywhere. They could appear several pages apart and be unrelated.

Via Flickr Creative Commons, by the waving cat. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewavingcat/138657496/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Narrow your search (2)

Some databases will allow you to use a proximity connector...

Via Flickr Creative Commons, by the waving cat. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewavingcat/138657496/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Narrow your search (2)

Some databases will allow you to use a proximity connector... ... to only return results where “term 1” appears within # words of “term 2”

Via Flickr Creative Commons, by the waving cat. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewavingcat/138657496/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Narrow your search (2)

Adding context:

truthwithin #

reconciliationVia Flickr Creative Commons, by the waving cat. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewavingcat/138657496/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Narrow your search (2)

• Narrowing your search– Proximity Truth within 3

reconciliation

Narrow your search (2)

• Narrowing your search– Proximity Truth within 3

reconciliation

Narrow your search (3)

• Narrowing your search– Phrase searching Truth and Reconciliation

Commission

Narrow your search (3)

• Narrowing your search– Phrase searching “Truth and Reconciliation

Commission”

Narrow your search (3)

• Narrowing your search– Phrase searching “Truth and Reconciliation

Commission”

Narrow your search (3)

• Narrowing your search– Phrase searching “Truth and Reconciliation

Commission”

Narrow your search (3)

• Narrowing your search– Excluding irrelevant results NOT

South Africa

Narrow your search (3)

• Narrowing your search– Excluding irrelevant results NOT

South Africa

Be careful with the NOT connector.

Narrow your search (3)

• Narrowing your search– Excluding irrelevant results NOT South Africa

Be careful with the NOT connector. It might exclude results which offer a comparison, or include the excluded term in just a reference or footnote, which may still be of interest.

Narrow your search

• Broadening your search - Summary– The “AND” connector repository AND

open access– Proximity searching negligen* w/5 police– Phrase searching “duty of care”– Excluding terms property NOT

intellectual

Narrow your search

• Broadening your search - Summary– The “AND” connector repository AND

open access– Proximity searching negligen* w/5 police– Phrase searching “duty of care”– Excluding terms property NOT

intellectual

Terminology and symbols vary, depending on which database or catalogue you are using...

No standard language

Truth within 5 words reconciliation

Truth w/5 reconciliation

Truth /5 reconciliation

Truth N5 reconciliation

Truth adj5 reconciliation

Part 4 Pulling it all together -

example

Example

Examining the impact of crime

enacted by teenagers in the

inner city

Identify your key concepts

Example

Examining the impact of crime

enacted by teenagers in the

inner city

teenagers crime inner city

Identify your keywords

These should describe, or focus on a particular

aspect of each concept.

Think about alternative words, spellings and

terminology.

Identify your keywords

These should describe, or focus on a particular

aspect of each concept.

Think about alternative words, spellings and

terminology.

Identify your keywords

These should describe, or focus on a particular

aspect of each concept.

Think about alternative words, spellings and

terminology.

teenagers

youth

juvenile

adolescent

crime inner city

teenagers

youth

juvenile

adolescent

crime

shoplifting

Anti-social behaviour

theft

inner city

teenagers

youth

juvenile

adolescent

crime

shoplifting

Anti-social behaviour

theft

inner city

urban

cities

London

Construct your search

Think about wildcards, truncation and phrase

searching

Construct your search

Think about wildcards, truncation and phrase

searching

teen*

youth

juvenile

adolescen*

crim*

shoplift*

“Anti-social behavio?r”

theft

“inner city”

urban

cities

London

Construct your search

Link your terms with appropriate connectors

Example

teen* OR youth OR juvenile OR adolescen*

Example

(teen* OR youth OR juvenile OR adolescen*)AND

(crim* OR shoplift* OR “anti-social behavio?r” OR theft)

AND(“inner city”OR urban OR cities OR London)

(teen* OR youth OR juvenile OR adolescen*)

(“inner city”OR urban OR cities

OR London)

(crim* OR shoplift* OR “anti-social

behavio?r” OR theft)

(teen* OR youth OR juvenile OR adolescen*)

(“inner city”OR urban OR cities

OR London)

(crim* OR shoplift* OR “anti-social

behavio?r” OR theft)

Only this subset of results

returned as the most relevant.

Evaluate your search

Are you getting the results you expected?

Evaluate your search

Are you getting the reuslts you expected?

Can the results returned inform your search

further?

Evaluate your search

Are you getting the reuslts you expected?

Can the results returned inform your search

further?Identify new keywords?

Key authors? Focus in on a specific topic or aspect?

Additional Image Credits

[Slide 3] Via Flickr Creative Commons, by Stefan. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/49462908@N00/3951143570

[Slide 6] Via Flickr Creative Commons, by Keoni Cabral. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/52193570@N04/5132652314

[Slide 24] Via Flickr Creative Commons, by Rob Ellis. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/45597153@N05/5325015118

[Slide 54] Via Flickr Creative Commons, by Liza31337. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/85763206@N00/2944354763