Search strategy quiz

Nancy GrahamLearning Advisor (Medicine)July 2006

Why should you use a search strategy?

To fo

cus

your s

earc

hing

To e

nsure

you w

ill fi

n...

To s

ave

you ti

me

wh..

All

of the

above

0% 0%0%0%

1. To focus your searching

2. To ensure you will find relevant material

3. To save you time when searching databases

4. All of the above 10

No. 4 is correct

• Before you begin searching a subject database for relevant material for your assignment it is crucial to plan your search, as you might plan a shopping list.

• Focusing your search topic, thinking of a list of keywords and limits will save you time and help you find highly relevant material.

Using a search engine such as Google to search for items on “The depletion of the ozone layer and the impact on health”, you would use

the words:

Impac

t, dep

letio

n, ozo

..

Ozo

ne la

yer,

health

Ozo

ne la

yer

Ski

n can

cer,

ozone

laye

r

None

of the

abo

ve

Don’t

know

0% 0% 0%0%0%0%

1. Impact, depletion, ozone layer, health

2. Ozone layer, health

3. Ozone layer

4. Skin cancer, ozone layer

5. None of the above

6. Don’t know10

No.1 is correct

• Picking out and using only the main keywords will make your searches more efficient.

You have to write a paper on the “treatment of depression”. Which search strategy would find the least number of documents:

Dep

ress

ion

and

psyc

...

Dep

ress

ion

or psy

ch...

Dep

ress

ion

and

psy.

..

Dep

ress

ion

Don’t

know

0% 0% 0%0%0%

1. Depression and psychotherapy

2. Depression or psychotherapy or antidepressants

3. Depression and psychotherapy and antidepressants

4. Depression5. Don’t know

10

No.3 is correct

• By adding more keywords to your search using AND you are narrowing the amount of articles you will bring up. In contrast, using OR will broaden your search.

If you wanted to search for documents with the words cancer, cancerous or cancers what would you type in the

search box?

Can

cer,

cance

rous

O...

Can

cer,

cance

rous

...

Can

cer*

Can

cer A

ND can

cer..

.

0% 0%0%0%

1. Cancer, cancerous OR cancers

2. Cancer, cancerous AND cancers

3. Cancer*4. Cancer AND

cancerous AND cancers 10

No. 3 is correct

• By shortening a word to it’s stem (truncation) and adding a wildcard symbol the database will look for articles including cancer plus any endings.

• This not only saves you having to type in each ending, but also saves you having to remember every ending to a word.

NB The wildcard symbol is not always an asterisk. Check the help pages of each database to find out which wildcard they use.

You are looking for articles written about East Germany before 1990, how would you refine your

search?

By

lang

uage

By

date

By

artic

le ty

pe

By

auth

or

25% 25%25%25%

1. By language

2. By date

3. By article type

4. By author

10

No. 2 is correct

• Limiting your search by date will allow you to search for articles written before 1990.

• You can refine your search in many ways, date being just one of them. If you wanted to restrict your search to articles written in English you can limit by language.

• Putting limits on your search term is another way of filtering out irrelevant material.

When conducting a systematic/literature review what is it important to do?

Use

a d

iffer

ent s

earc

h...

Use

the

sam

e st

rate

g...

Only

use

one

datab

ase

Don’t

use

a st

rate

gy

25% 25%25%25%1. Use a different

search strategy for each database

2. Use the same strategy for each database

3. Only use one database

4. Don’t use a strategy

10

No. 2 is correct

• It’s important to use the same, successful, search strategy for each database you search. This way you will be more efficient, you won’t have to spend time recreating a strategy and your results will be consistent.

If you have searched using your topic keywords and you aren’t retrieving many results, what should you always do?

Use

syn

onym

s fo

r yo..

Use

a d

iffer

ent d

atab

ase

Use

only

the

resu

lts ..

.

Don’t

know

0% 0%0%0%

1. Use synonyms for your search terms

2. Use a different database

3. Use only the results you’ve retrieved

4. Don’t know 10

No.1 is correct

• You could try using a different database but you’ll probably find you have the same problem. By using synonyms and similar search terms you will increase your chances of finding what you need.

• For example, some authors may use the term ‘neoplasm’ instead of ‘cancer’. Thinking of synonyms for your search terms will guarantee that you’re catching all the relevant documents.