Effective Searching: Part 2 - Broaden your search (Web Version)
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Part 2 (of 5) Overview of effective search strategies. - PART 1: Overview, Key concepts and keywords - PART 2: Broadening your search - PART 3: Narrowing your search - PART 4: Constructing your search - PART 5: Citation searching Part 2 covers: - Accounting for synonyms - Accounting for changes in terminology - Accounting for alternative spellings - term trunctaion - hyphenated and plural terms - Boolean connectors, wildcards, truncation tools
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Effective Searching: Part 2 - Broaden your search (Web Version)
- 1. Effective Search Strategies for Researchers - 2 Academic Liaison Librarian (Research) Contact details
- 3. Effective Searching Define your information need • What types of resource do you need? • Identify where to search. • Identify your key concepts. Broaden your search • Be compre- hensive. • Ensure nothing is missed un- necessarily. • “Cast your nets wide.” Narrow your search • Be focused. • Exclude any ‘noise’. • Ensure you can use your reading time most efficiently. • “Use the right nets.” Evaluate your results • Identify gaps. • Assess un- expected results. • Review search terms with new knowl- edge. Make your results work for you • Be efficient with your time. • Search alerts. • Citation searching.
- 4. Broaden your search (1) Alternative terms (Boolean connectors) a) Synonyms b) Changes in terminology (2) Alternative spelling (Wildcards) a) Francophone and American English spellings b) Style Guides (3) Word stems (Truncation tools)
- 5. Alternative terms 1: Synonyms
- 6. Synonyms: Using “OR” teenager OR adolescent Alternative terms 1: Synonyms
- 7. Synonyms: Using “OR” … will return all results which include either the term teenager or the term adolescent, as well as all results in which both terms are mentioned (and no results in which neither are mentioned) teenager adolescent Alternative terms 1: Synonyms
- 8. Synonyms: Using “OR” … and can be extended to cover where there may be multiple synonyms to account for. adolescent teenager juvenile “young person” Alternative terms 1: Synonyms teenager OR adolescent OR juvenile OR “young person”
- 9. Synonyms: Using “OR” Many databases assume if don’t include the “OR” connector, you only want results where ALL of the terms entered appear. e.g. sddsfsdsdfsdfsdfsdfsdf “If you want to search for pages that may have just one of several words, include OR (capitalised) between the words. Without the OR, your results would typically show only pages that match both terms.” https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/136861?hl=en Alternative terms 1: Synonyms
- 10. Synonyms: Using “OR” Some databases assume if don’t include the “OR” connector, you only want results where the terms appear exactly next to each other, such as a phrase. e.g. dffffffdfffffffffffffffffff Alternative terms 1: Synonyms Example: Butterfly: Over 3,000 results Lepidoptera: Over 3,000 results Butterfly OR Lepidoptera: Over 3,000 results Butterfly Lepidoptera: 51 results (as at 24th June 2019) e.g. butterfly (Lepidoptera) Lepidoptera Butterfly: 131 results (as at 24th June 2019)
- 11. Alternative terms 2: Changes in terminology
- 12. Changes in terminology: Using “OR” “Mental retardation” OR “Intellectual disability” OR “Cognitive disability” Alternative terms 2: Changes in terminology
- 13. Use of term “Mental Retardation” Use of term “Intellectual Disability” Alternative terms 2: Changes in terminology Mental Retardation was replaced as the preferred term in UK and other academic publications from 1980s... … but was still the preferred term in the US until APA and changes in US Federal Law officially changed terminology in 2013.
- 14. Alternative terms 2: Changes in terminology
- 15. “mental retardation” “intellectual disability” 136 results use both 505 results 2,681 results Publications in 2018 (Scopus data) Alternative terms 2: Changes in terminology But you may still need to account for use of “out- dated” terminology, even in more recent publications! In this example, over 15% of possible results from one year alone could be missed if only using current preferred terminology.
- 17. Think about Americanised and Francophone word spellings: • colour or color • centre or center • licence or license • organised or organized Alternative spellings
- 18. Via Flickr Creative Commons, by Pink Sherbert Photography. Original available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/70873497@N02/6935006104/ Donut Doughnut - 32,075 results in Discover (as at 24th June 2019) - 39,322 results in Discover (as at 24th June 2019) - Either / Or = 51,456 results in Discover Alternative spellings
- 19. Style guides: Guardian Tendinitis Sunday Times Tendinitis OR Tendonitis Sunday Telegraph Tendonitis Alternative spellings
- 20. Style guides: Guardian Tendinitis Sunday Times Tendinitis OR Tendonitis Sunday Telegraph Tendonitis Alternative spellings
- 21. You could still use the “OR” connector, but a simpler solution is often to use a WILDCARD to represent 0,1 or more alternative letters. – organi?ation will find: organisation or organization alternative letters – labo?r will find: labor or labour missing letters – d?nut will find: donut or doughnut multiple missing letters Alternative spellings
- 22. Word stems
- 23. • Truncation tools – Word stems (truncation searching) – negligen* will find: “Police were accused of negligence” “Police were accused of acting negligently” “Police were accused of being negligent” Word Stems
- 24. • Truncation tools – Word stems (truncation searching) for plurals Word Stems
- 25. • Truncation tools – Word stems (truncation searching) for plurals – Other results picked up with video* • Video 615 • Videos 59 • Videotape, videolink etc. 55 – Lesson: be careful what extra terms you might inadvertently include. Word Stems
- 26. A quick note on hyphens and plurals Spider-man Batman Iron man Be aware of hyphenated words…
- 27. A quick note on hyphens and plurals How databases account for these in searches can vary, and you may need to account for these. Example (from assisting with Systematic Review, Jan 2019): “subjective wellbeing” OR “subjective well-being” … worked better in some databases than “subjective well?being” Don’t assume a wildcard will always pick-up hyphens. Be aware of hyphenated words…
- 28. • Broadening your search - Summary – Alternative terms butterfly OR lepidoptera – Alternative spellings organi?ation labo?r – Word stems negligen* Terminology and symbols vary, depending on which database or catalogue you are using Broaden your search
- 29. Effective Searching Define your information need • What types of resource do you need? • Identify where to search. • Identify your key concepts. Broaden your search • Be compre- hensive. • Ensure nothing is missed un- necessarily. • “Cast your nets wide.” Narrow your search • Be focused. • Exclude any ‘noise’. • Ensure you can use your reading time most efficiently. • “Use the right nets.” Evaluate your results • Identify gaps. • Assess un- expected results. • Review search terms with new knowl- edge. Make your results work for you • Be efficient with your time. • Search alerts. • Citation searching.
Editor's Notes
- Example in image: Baseball glove… aimed at helping you avoid anything slipping past your grasp. (Other metaphore…. Fishing nets. Casting your nets wide so as not to let anything escape unexpectedly)
- As postgraduate researchers, there is not just a pressure to “find some stuff”… but you will feel you are expected to have found and read everything which is of relevance to your topic of research, and read around the edges to clearly define your topic. Reading everything is, of course, an impossible task. So what you actually need to have is the confidence, (for meetings with supervisors, conference papers you deliver, articles your write… and then your final completed thesis, your viva and any subsequent direction your career takes you…) the confidence that you have found (and read) everything of importance, and an ability to articulate and demonstrate why you are confident you have searched for that information effectively. DEFINE - This has two motivations: In terms of form, you must search in the most appropriate places, having decided the type and amount of information you want based upon your information need In terms of subject, you are also defining your boundaries. It is likely that for any extended piece of research you are going to have multiple ‘contexts’ and ‘avenues’ to explore – and there may be other linked areas you are not interested in. Having a broad understanding of the topic may also help inform your choice of search term, as well as helping you identify those areas you wish to exclude from your search. BROADEN Metaphor – cast your net wide to make sure you can capture as much as possible that ‘might’ be relevant, and ensuring you aren’t missing anything which might potentially be useful. - this is about being comprehensive, rather than focussing to precisely to start with. This is about ensuring you don’t inadvertently miss anything. NARROW Metaphor: ensuring you are using the right nets for the job to allow those results you don’t want to slip through the holes, and those you are to be pulled onto your deck. - once you have ensured your search can be as comprehensive as possible, you then need to make sure you focus it to help filter out the ‘noise’ and to just return the most relevant results. This is about ensuring you use your reading time most efficiently. EVALUATE This is not about critically evaluating the content and conclusions of the articles. This is about evaluating your results as a whole to identify problems with your search, or improvements you could make. - rarely will you find all the most relevant and appropriate results in your first search. Using the results you do find to identify:- Key authors, or opposing arguments, to explore further Alternative and additional search terms Specific topics you might want to focus on New avenues of research topic or methodology WORK FOR YOU Finally, this is about using those key sources you locate to work for you:- - providing you with a rich source of pre-selected earlier research from their own list of references - citation searching to see how the ideas and research in the key sources you have identified have been taken and developed further
- - Now itself perceived as not politically acceptable and being replaced by terms including “intellectual disability”. - Still in use in the United States and by the WHO sometime after the phrase became less commonly used in United Kingdom. - APA officially changed terminology in 2013 and under federal US law - Changes in terminology and spelling especially important when searching historic sources such as newspapers, official publication and pamphlet collections. 2018: Scopus Data - “mental retardation” = 641 results - “intellectual disability” = 2,817 results - “mental retardation AND intellectual disability” = 136 results
- As postgraduate researchers, there is not just a pressure to “find some stuff”… but you will feel you are expected to have found and read everything which is of relevance to your topic of research, and read around the edges to clearly define your topic. Reading everything is, of course, an impossible task. So what you actually need to have is the confidence, (for meetings with supervisors, conference papers you deliver, articles your write… and then your final completed thesis, your viva and any subsequent direction your career takes you…) the confidence that you have found (and read) everything of importance, and an ability to articulate and demonstrate why you are confident you have searched for that information effectively. DEFINE - This has two motivations: In terms of form, you must search in the most appropriate places, having decided the type and amount of information you want based upon your information need In terms of subject, you are also defining your boundaries. It is likely that for any extended piece of research you are going to have multiple ‘contexts’ and ‘avenues’ to explore – and there may be other linked areas you are not interested in. Having a broad understanding of the topic may also help inform your choice of search term, as well as helping you identify those areas you wish to exclude from your search. BROADEN Metaphor – cast your net wide to make sure you can capture as much as possible that ‘might’ be relevant, and ensuring you aren’t missing anything which might potentially be useful. - this is about being comprehensive, rather than focussing to precisely to start with. This is about ensuring you don’t inadvertently miss anything. NARROW Metaphor: ensuring you are using the right nets for the job to allow those results you don’t want to slip through the holes, and those you are to be pulled onto your deck. - once you have ensured your search can be as comprehensive as possible, you then need to make sure you focus it to help filter out the ‘noise’ and to just return the most relevant results. This is about ensuring you use your reading time most efficiently. EVALUATE This is not about critically evaluating the content and conclusions of the articles. This is about evaluating your results as a whole to identify problems with your search, or improvements you could make. - rarely will you find all the most relevant and appropriate results in your first search. Using the results you do find to identify:- Key authors, or opposing arguments, to explore further Alternative and additional search terms Specific topics you might want to focus on New avenues of research topic or methodology WORK FOR YOU Finally, this is about using those key sources you locate to work for you:- - providing you with a rich source of pre-selected earlier research from their own list of references - citation searching to see how the ideas and research in the key sources you have identified have been taken and developed further