Smart Searching Techniques for Online Resources

Smart Searching Using. . . Search Terms joined by Boolean Operators Nesting Phrase Searching Truncation

Why do I need to know this? These principles are the foundation of searching in all search engines & online resources (whether you realize it or not!) Google, Bing, etc. Alexandria (library catalog) ProQuest eLibrary SIRS

Why do I need to know this? Being a Smart Searcher means being a CRITICAL CONSUMER of information NOT being a “point, click, copier, and paster” How can you be a critical consumer if you don’t know the product?

Boolean Operators (Connectors) “AND,” “OR,” and “NOT” Used to combine search terms (keywords) Tells search engines which keywords you want your results to include or exclude

Each Boolean operator has a different effect: Boolean Operators Each Boolean operator has a different effect: OR helps you retrieve more results AND or NOT retrieve fewer results

Boolean Operator: AND Ex: green eggs AND ham Only retrieves documents containing BOTH (or all) keywords! Like a +

Boolean Operator: OR Tells the search engine that either or both of your search terms can appear in your results Ex: green eggs OR ham Use OR to join keywords that are SYNONYMS Ex. college OR (terms that mean the same) university

Boolean Operator: NOT Tells the search engine that you do not want the word after the “NOT” to appear in the results of your search Ex: green eggs NOT ham

Searches are done in a Linear manner Unless you indicate otherwise, one step is accomplished at a time. Ex. ham OR bacon AND green eggs AND OR OR

Nesting Putting words in parentheses will tell the search engine to process and group that part of the search first. Ex. ham OR bacon AND green eggs OR AND Next, the search engine will combine this result with the last part of the search. Ex. (ham OR bacon) AND green eggs ( )

“Phrase Searching” Putting words in quotation marks will tell the search engine to treat common phrases as one idea. Ex: “green eggs and ham” It means--give me results with this exact phrase ” “ AND

Truncation You can search for related keywords having the same ROOT (beginning letters) by adding an asterisk after the root letters. This is called TRUNCATION Also known as stemming or wildcard

Truncation / Stemming egg* will retrieve both “egg” and “eggshell” And it will also retrieve unrelated words, like “eggplant”

Truncation / Stemming Example Example = _____________ retrieves: econom* Keyword economy economy economies economics economist economical economically

Some truncations are not “smart”: Some stemming is not necessary: Some truncations are not “smart”: car* car cars carrot ? salmon global warming

Too Many Results? Reduce your results by adding more search terms (keywords) using “AND” or “NOT” green eggs AND ham AND juice AND toast ham AND green eggs NOT scrambled NOT poached

Too Few Results? Expand your results with fewer search terms Ex. green eggs AND ham AND juice AND toast Use “OR” to join search terms Ex. green eggs AND (ham OR bacon OR sausage OR tofu)

Too Few Results? Think of SYNONYMS of your search terms – join and NEST them using “OR” Example: child abuse AND prevent* ( OR stop ) truncation prevent* = prevent, prevents, preventing, prevented, prevention

Smart Searching Practice

How can I use this “Smart Searching” stuff in Google? Check out Advanced Searching and Advanced Search Tips

How can I use this “Smart Searching” stuff in Google? Automatic ”AND” searching Google finds web pages with all of your search terms. “AND” is automatically understood between terms. The order in which the terms are typed will affect the search results. Example: laws parks skateboarding Means laws AND parks AND skateboarding

How can I use this “Smart Searching” stuff in Google? Google ignores common words and characters such as where, the, how, and other numbers and letters which slow down your search without improving the results. If a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can include it by putting a "+" sign in front of it. Example: x-men +2

How can I use this “Smart Searching” stuff in Google? "OR" search To find pages that include either of two search terms, add an uppercase OR between the terms. For example, here's how to search for a vacation in either London or Paris: Example: vacation london OR paris

How can I use this “Smart Searching” stuff in Google? Synonym search If you want to search not only for your search term but also for its synonyms, place the tilde sign ("~") immediately in front of your search term. Example: ~car ~hybrid will find results with (car or vehicle) and (hybrid or electric)

How can I use this “Smart Searching” stuff in Google? Phrase searches Sometimes you'll only want results that include an exact phrase. In this case, simply put quotation marks around your search terms. Example: “chocolate ice cream sandwiches” (will find those words in that exact order)

How can I use this “Smart Searching” stuff in Google? “NOT” searches You can by put a minus sign ("-") in front of words you want to exclude. Example: bass (if you’re looking for the fish not something musical) bass –music –guitars