Part of a Decision-based Learning Course for information literacy

1. SEARCHING:
CONCEPT BLOCKING STRATEGY

2. Topic Anatomy
CONCEPT 1
CONCEPT 2 CONCEPT 3
• Each topic comprises an intersection of multiple concepts or knowledge
domains
• Concept Blocking simply seeks to identify those concepts up front and
use them in a search

3. “Concept Blocking”
CONCEPT 1
Synonyms
CONCEPT 2
Synonyms
CONCEPT 3
Synonyms
• This is an intuitive method of searching, where you break down your topic into major
concepts and represent each concept with a search term
• Describe each concept with several synonyms to capture alternative wording that
authors may use in their papers (e.g., drone, UAV, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)
• Use AND statements between successive search terms, OR statements between
synonyms
• Add a concept to narrow the topic, remove a concept to broaden it

4. • Topic: Coordinated control of UAVs
• Search string: (((unmanned aerial vehicles) OR UAV OR drone) AND
(control OR automation) AND (coordination OR cooperation)
EXAMPLE
Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles
UAV
drone
Control
Automation
Coordination
Cooperation

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