1. Smart Searching Techniques
for Online Resources

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

3. 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

4. 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?

5. 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

6. 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

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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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 ( )

12. “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

13. 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

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

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

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

17. 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

18. 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)

19. 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

20. Smart Searching Practice

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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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)

26. 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)

27. 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