Improving Keywor d Searches OR: How to Be as Smart as the Internet

The Problem… You use Google for everything. Your searches yield thousands of results. And yet… None of them really work. You end up make ludicrous statements like, “There’s nothing on the internet about Romeo & Juliet!” You don’t need more results. You need better results.

Becoming more intuitive/right-brained Ask a simple question, get a simple answer. You don’t need simple answers. You need the best answers.

Down the Rabbit-Hole: Keyword vs. Subject Search Keyword Natural language words describing your topic. A good way to start your search. Looks for keywords anywhere in the record (title, author name, subject headings, etc.). More flexible for searching. You can combine terms in any number of ways. Often yields too many or too few results. Often yields many irrelevant results. Subject Pre-defined controlled vocabulary words assigned to describe the content of each item in a database or catalog. Less flexible. You must know the exact controlled vocabulary term or phrase. Looks for subjects only in the subject heading or descriptor field, where the most relevant words appear. Results are usually very relevant to the topic.

SO WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A KEYWORD SEARCH AND A SUBJECT SEARCH? In your own words…

Research Question This is your starting point. It’s the question that focuses you on the singular point you seek to make, and clarifies your keywords. Can a person get addicted to video games? Did Tyrannosaurus Rex have feathers? Is there evidence that deficiency of vitamin D is related to depression? What is The Matrix?

In other words… Start with a research question, and identify the central – key – words in it: Research Question: “Can a person get addicted to video games?” Keywords: addicted, video games Research question: Did Tyrannosaurus Rex have feathers? Keywords: Tyrannosaurus Rex, feathers Research question: Is there evidence that deficiency of vitamin D relates to depression? Keywords: vitamin D, depression

Speak the right language… When it comes to selecting your search words, avoid typing in unnecessary terms such as "causes", "relationship", "pros and cons" etc. Remember that keyword searches do not care for prepositions such as: at, to, on, in, with, etc. Instead use the Boolean connectors (and, or, not) discussed in the next pages. Use quotation marks " " for search terms that are phrases. Quotation marks limit the search to those words in that order Examples: "acid rain” "Martin Luther King, Jr."

Truncation or wildcard Truncation is a technique that enables you to look for a word and any of its possible endings. Using truncation is also called using a "wildcard" because it allows you to insert a symbol (usually an asterisk *, or ?) as a wild card at the end of a word. For example, a search on the word adolescen* would also search for Adolescent Adolescents Adolescence

Truncation Truncation can also be used at the start of the keyword. *plane would look for: plane and airplane *plane* would look for: plane, airplane, planes, airplanes.

Boolean! Boolean logic, particularly the use of the Boolean operator AND, is the most important technique for limiting results in any database or search engine search. The principal Boolean operators are: AND– to get fewer, more specific results OR– to get more results, utilizing synonyms NOT–or- AND NOT– to get fewer results, excluding irrelevant information Some search engines require connectors to be in all capitals, others don’t. Might as well put them in all caps.

So to reiterate: why would one want to get fewer results in a search?

A few important notes on Boolean operators: Boolean logic is effective only in Keyword searching. Remember! Subject searches use specific subject headings/descriptors! You should always use a parenthesis ( ) around those items that you combine with OR. If you skip this step, the database will not know which terms you wish to combine with "OR" and will most likely retrieve lots of irrelevant results! Example: (women OR females) AND sports

A few important notes on Boolean operators: You may use as many of these Boolean operators as necessary in a single search statement. Example: (women OR females) AND sports NOT basketball

Let's Practice! You are doing research on the cost of higher education. What are some different searches you could try for the topic?

"key" words in the search, including synonyms (that is, words with the same meaning) are: higher education, colleges, universities cost, tuition, fee the boolean connector "OR" will combine terms with similar meanings: higher education or colleges or universities cost or tuition or fee

need to use parenthesis, ( ), around the terms combined with the "OR”: (higher education or colleges or universities ) (cost or tuition or fee) need to use the boolean connector "AND" to combine and require terms to appear in the results: (higher education or colleges or universities) AND (cost or tuition or fee)

need to use truncation, *, to get different word endings, such as both singular and plural: (higher education or college* or universit*) and (cost* or tuition or fee*) need to use quotations, " ", for phrase searching: ("higher education" or college* or universit*) and (cost* or tuition or fee*)

So, the final result of a good search could be: ("higher education" or college* or universit*) and (cost* or tuition or fee*) Or, more simply… “higher education” and cost* (college* or universit*) and cost*

Take 2 topics from the list you brainstormed… What are some searches you could do for each of those topics that utilize advanced search techniques?