Part of a Decision-based Learning Course for information literacy

1. SEARCHING:
CONCEPT BLOCKING STRATEGY
USED WITH SUBJECT TERMS

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
Alt. Subjects
CONCEPT 2
Alt. Subjects
CONCEPT 3
Alt. Subjects
• This is an intuitive method of searching, where you break down your topic into
major concepts and represent each concept with a search term
• When using subject terms, synonyms are not needed, but consider using the
database’s thesaurus to find related subject terms to broaden search
• Use AND statements between successive search terms, OR statements
between similar subject terms
• Add a concept to narrow the topic, remove a concept to broaden it

4. • Topic: Coordinated control of UAVs
• Search string: (({unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)} OR {Reconnaissance
aircraft}) WN CV) AND (({Aircraft Control} OR {Control Theory} OR
{Collision Avoidance}) WN CV) AND (coordination OR distributed)
EXAMPLE (using Compendex Subject Terms)
Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles
(UAV)
Reconnaissance
Aircraft
Aircraft Control
Control Theory
Collision Avoidance
Coordination
Distributed
Note that this is a hybrid search containing both subject terms and keywords, since
there are not subject terms for the generic concept of coordination in this sense

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