Evaluate your keywords and synonyms. Can you use more specific words to describe your topic? The more specific words you use, the better the results. This technique is especially important when searching the World Wide Web (WWW).
Capitalize
or use UPPER CASE when appropriate
Some search engines are case
sensitive. Use appropriate capitalization, including using all upper case,
when needed to focus your search precisely. Using UPPER case when appropriate
limits your search to exact matches. For example, a query for NEXT
(upper case) will only match NEXT, excluding Next or next.
Use AND
When you combine two concepts with the word AND,
you are narrowing your search, producing fewer results. Be aware that many
search engines require it to be capitalized.
Use
phrases
Instead of using keywords, try identifying a phrase
that defines your topic. When searching for a phrase, your results will contain
the exact words you used in the exact order that you specified. To create
a phrase, surround the string of words with quotation marks.
Add
a discriminating or qualifying word or phrase.
Before: "World Wide Web" statistics
After: "World Wide Web" use or usage statistics
Adding use or usage makes the query less ambiguous.
Most information databases (e.g. ProQuest or EbscoHost) and some search engines on the WWW provide specific fields by which you can limit a search. These may include:
Use
the Boolean operator "and"
The operator "and" will limit your search to only those occurrences that include both terms, not just one or the other. For example, a search for education and technology will produce only documents in which both words occur.
To narrow your search further, you can use "and" more than once. For example, "education and technology and benefits" would require that all three terms be present before a document would be retrieved.
Use
the Boolean operator "not"
The Boolean operator "not" narrows the search by excluding certain words. For example, the search term "insecticides not DDT" would retrieve only those documents on the subject of insecticides that excludes the term "DDT."
Combining two different operators (e.g. "endangered and species not owl") will narrow your search even further since both of the words "endangered" and "species" would have to be present, while excluding documents in which the word "owl" occurs.
Use
a require ( + ) or reject operator ( - )
Before: Barney
After: Barney, +Smith -dinosaur
When you require a specific word to be included in your search results or, conversely, you reject a specific word that is likely to generate irrelevant search results, you are narrowing your search. The word Barney alone is ambiguous. It is likely to retrieve Smith Barney investment information as well as cartoon dinosaur pages and any other occurrence of the word Barney. You can use the reject operator (the "minus" sign) to eliminate the cartoon dinosaur interpretation or you can require that the word "Smith" be in the document. The "After" version above does both.
CAUTION: Use the (-) sign with reservation. When you use the minus sign before a word you may unintentionally omit sites that include both your desired keywords as well as your restricted keywords.
Information Sources
| Selecting the Best | Developing
a Research Strategy |
Subject & Keyword Searching | Narrowing
Your Search | Expanding Your Search | Whys
& Hows of Search Syntax | Search Syntax for Life
| Glossary
Last updated: Thursday, 08-Jul-2004 14:45:07 EDT