Creating a Search Strategy Be specific. Using specific keywords instead of general categories will lead to specific search results. Example: eye disorder (general) cataract (specific)

Avoid stop words * (a, about, an, and, are, as, at, be, by, from, how, i, in, is, it, of, on, or, that, the, this, to, we, what, when, where, which, with, etc.) if not necessary. As much as possible, use nouns and objects as your keywords. Example: lumanog guitar 12 strings .05 pick distortion gadget *Stop words are words that most search engines ignore.

Type the most important keyword(s) first. Make sure that the main keyword of your search is typed first, not its supporting details to avoid irrelevant results. Example: - telephone cuisine kortenberg restaurant italian (vague) - restaurant kortenberg italian cuisine telephone (clear) - OR, just type: italian restaurant kortenberg (better)

Use at least three keywords. This is to narrow down your topic to receive specific information from the search engine. Example: bermuda triangle mysteries

Join keywords into phrases whenever possible. Use quotation marks to help you get the exact phrase of what is being searched for. Example: “restaurant by the bay” – This comes up with 'Humphrys Restaurant By the Bay; however, without quotation marks, it can be 'by the bay' or 'Bay Area Restaurants'.

Type the keywords that you expect to find in the body of the source. Think about a phrase/sentence that usually appears in articles, magazines, or books―it is, most of the time, similar to the ones read on the Internet. If the typed question can't lead to a concise answer, assume that you know part of the answer and let your search engine find the rest. Example: Q: what are the effects of too much eating? Type: too much eating leads to...