Searching Techniques DEANSHIP OF LIBRARY AFFAIRS

Outlines of Effective Searching for Electronic Information and Resources  Defining your topic and breaking it down into component concepts.  Choosing keywords.  Combining keywords - using Boolean operators to structure the search.  Using truncation.  Using advanced techniques such as field searching, brackets and controlled vocabulary.  Refining search results.

Outlines of Effective Searching for Electronic Information and Resources  Searching in Summon Discovery Service  A-Z e-resources Search and Browse  Which database should I use?  Planning your search  Searching techniques  Using your search result

Plan your search  What  Where  Whom  When

Ways to access online information  Browse  Simple keyword search  Advanced search and  Expert search

Browse  Finding information by looking at it in an alphabetical, chronological, subject or any other order  You may see all information resources one by one

Browsing in IEEE Xplore

Simple keyword search  It is used to search any word from subject, author or title when you have incomplete information.

Advanced searching techniques  Boolean operators  Phrase searching  Truncation / wildcard searching  Focusing / limiting a search

Boolean operators To join terms together, widen a search or exclude terms from search results. This means you can be more precise in locating your information. AND OR NOT

Boolean operators in IEEE Xplore

Phrase searching It narrows your search down by searching for an exact phrase or sentence. It is particularly useful when searching for a title or a quotation. Usually quotation marks are used to connect the words together. For example “Oil and gas reservoirs in Saudi Arabia”

Phrase searching in Google

Truncation / wildcard These search techniques retrieve information on similar words by replacing part of the word with a symbol usually a * or ?. However, different databases use different symbols, so check what is used.  In truncation the end of the word is replaced.  For example physiother* will retrieve physiotherapy, physiotherapeutic, physiotherapist and so on.  In wildcard searching, letters from inside the word are replaced.  For example wom*n will retrieve the terms woman and women.

Truncation and wildcard in ProQuest Truncation  Searching for econom* will find economy, economics, economical, etc.  Searching for *old will find told, household, bold, etc. Wildcard  Searching for t?re will find tire, tyre, tore, etc.  Searching for ad??? will find added, adult, adopt, etc.

Focusing / limiting a search There are many ways to focus your search and all search tools offer different ways of doing this. Examples of filters / limiters:  Date within 3 years  Language Arabic  Place Saudi Arabia  Publication type Journal Article  TitleMosque

Limiting search in Summon iau.summon.serialssolutions.com

Expert Search  Basics  Google Search  Image Search

A typical Expert search

Google Expert Search  Filetype:  Filetype:pdf  Site: (no space between and url)  Google site:TIME.com  site:.gov or.edu or.ac,.sa  Use “DEFINE:” to learn the meaning of words—slang included  Define: truncate  Search social media  in front of a word to search social media. For example:  Search within a range of numbers  Put.. between two numbers. For example, camera $50..$100.  Search for related sites  Put "related:" in front of a web address you already know. For example, related:time.com.  See Google’s cached version of a site  Put "cache:" in front of the site address.

Image Search  Live Google Image Search  Search through Camera (related images)  Image Search Tools  Snipping Tool

Information resources at IAU Library  Print books  Print journals  Electronic books  Electronic journals

Access to E-resources

Login to E-Resource Portal First part of IAU

Summon – Web scale discovery tool

Summon advance search

Summon search result

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