Information literacyWe are now being bombarded with more and more information from an ever growing number of global sources. Developing information literacy is a key transferable skill which is essential in the workplace as well as at university. Both private companies and the public sector organizations are selecting and evaluating vast amounts of information on a daily basis.What is a Search Strategy?A search strategy is the action plan for retrieving information. A proper search strategy will save time and allow relevant information from various resources to be retrieved from its sources.A search strategy is critical to information retrieval because it: Requires you to analyze your topic; Helps you to identify what information is needed and how to find it; and Helps you to find the most relevant information. Types of Search StrategiesThere are basically 4 types of search strategiesAuthor SearchTitle SearchSubject SearchKeyword Search1. Author SearchIf you know the name of the author, search under the name of author using the guide below for Personal or Corporate Authors.Title Search

Title Search is mainly used when you know the title of the book or journal.iii. Subject Search

Subject Search is conducted when you do not have information on author or title but you only know the subject.iv. Keyword SearchKeyword Search is the most efficient search strategy when you are not searching for specific items. This strategy is particularly useful for searching electronic databases and the Internet i.e searching information for your assignment.Steps in Formulating the Keyword Search StrategyUnderstand Assignment Topic Identify the difficult words and phrases used. Use dictionaries and encyclopedias to explain and understand the topic.Formulate/Construct a Research Statement Summaries the topic into a short statement of problem with a focus on the main concepts onlyAnalyze to Identify the Main Ideas that make up the Topic Break up the question into key concepts.The main topic can be further divided into several sub-topics.Identify keywords for each concept/sub-topic:

Develop a list of search terms and words related to each sub-topic. Use encyclopaedias or thesaurus to get the related terms and synonyms to use in the search. Use broader or narrower terms or scientific terms to achieve much better results.Select and Combine the Keywords with Boolean ConnectorsA Boolean connector helps to narrow down or broaden your search and give a more accurate search by combining keywords, phrases, or terms. The most common Boolean connector are AND, OR and NOT. Use the Boolean connectors AND, OR and NOT to combine search terms for better results.Boolean Connector AND Boolean Connector AND is used to combined more than one keyword. For example, if you want information on marketing and the Internet, you will use AND. Using the Boolean AND will eliminate all the general information on marketing and will narrow down your search to select only information on Internet marketing.b. Boolean Connector OR When your search result is too little or you want to find additional articles or books, use the Boolean connector OR to connect the synonyms of the keywords. This will broaden your search and increase the amount of information you find. The Boolean connector OR allows for search within the same concept with different words. Use brackets when using the Boolean connector OR in the search statement.For example, you want to search e-business and also e-commerce. Use OR to increase your searchc. Boolean Connector NOT The Boolean connector NOT also narrows the search. It is used to exclude certain aspects from the search result that is when a particular keyword is not required. Use brackets to group words under the same concept. The Boolean connector NOT finds records with the first keyword and eliminates records containing the second keyword. For example, you are only interested in searches related to marketing. This will retrieve information on marketing on the web excluding details about retailing aspects.