1. 26/08/05 Developing Search Strategies Jill Crawley-Low, Veterinary Medicine Library, University of Saskatchewan

2. 26/08/05 Developing Strategies for Searching Electronic Resources clearly define the question & concepts consider the vocabulary organize the terms construct the search statement decide which databases to search execute the search

3. 26/08/05 Clearly Define the Question example of a precisely worded question: “are there articles on mycorrhizal symbioses in vascular plants written in the last 5 years?”

4. 26/08/05 Identify the Main Concepts in Your Question “are there articles on mycorrhizal symbioses in vascular plants written in the last 5 years?” mycorrhizal symbioses mycorrhizas vascular plants 2000+

5. 26/08/05 Consider the Vocabulary forms of keywords – mycorrhiza, mycorrhizal, mycorrhizas synonyms – mycoflora, fungal flora truncation ? replaces one character * replaces more than one character

6. 26/08/05 Organize the Terms free-text or index searching Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) Parentheses

7. 26/08/05 Boolean Operators most search engines don’t allow natural language - use keywords or key phrases and combine them with Boolean operators and retrieves records containing both terms (narrows a search) or retrieves records containing either term (broadens a search)

8. 26/08/05 Parentheses allow you to control the order in which keywords or key phrases are searched all search statements containing “and” plus “or” in the same sentence must use parentheses to control search order

9. 26/08/05 Free Text or Index Searching enter keywords or phrases e.g. vascular plants or mycorrhiza search for terms in specific fields e.g. king in au, vascular plants in ti

10. 26/08/05 Construct the Search Strategy “are there articles on mycorrhizas or mycorrhizal symbioses in vascular plants written in the last 5 years?” (mycorrhizas or mycorrhizal symbioses) and vascular plant? and py>=2000

11. 26/08/05 Determine Which Databases to Search Microbiology Abstracts: Algology, Mycology & Protozoology – references in biological life sciences, medicine, and microbiologyMicrobiology Abstracts: Algology, Mycology & Protozoology – references in biological life sciences, medicine, and microbiologyhttp://www.csa.com/factsheets/microbiology-c-set-c.php Web of Science - citation databases contain the references cited by the authors of the articles, also use these references to do cited reference searching- find articles that cite a previously published workWeb of Science - citation databases contain the references cited by the authors of the articles, also use these references to do cited reference searching- find articles that cite a previously published work http://scientific.thomson.com/media/scpdf/ba_qrc_11_15.pdf Biological AbstractsBiological Abstracts - coverage of worldwide journal literature in the life sciences including agriculture, biochemistry, biotechnology, ecology, immunology, microbiology, neuroscience, pharmacology, public health, and toxicology http://www.biosis.org/media/pdf/qrc/BIOSIS_on_SilverPlatter_QRC. pdf