The document provides guidance on conducting a thorough search process for answering reference questions. It involves 7 steps: 1) Identifying the main facets or concepts in the question, 2) Brainstorming synonyms, 3) Building a search grid to organize terms under each facet, 4) Looking up terms in the thesaurus, 5) Expressing the search as a Boolean statement combining facets, 6) Testing searches by facet before combining facets, and 7) Reviewing results and revising the search if needed. Conducting each step helps create an organized search strategy and ensures all important concepts are captured to thoroughly address the original question.

1. Search Process Assignment
Part 1: Planning and documentation
1. The question
2. Facets of the question
3. Building a search grid
4. Brainstorming for synonyms for your facets
5. Finding terms in the ERIC Ebscohost Thesaurus
6. Rephrase the original question as a Boolean
statement
7. Double-check: does the search statement match
the needs expressed by the original question?

2. 1. The question
Can you help me find some information about
distance education?
Sure! Can you tell me a little more about
what you’re hoping to find?
I’m taking an online course for the first time and I’d
like to learn more about the differences between
regular face-to-face classes and online learning, so I
can be better prepared. I’m especially concerned
about the amount of time I need to invest, since I’m
already working full time. Do you think there’s any
helpful information out there?
!

3. 1. Facets of the question
Facets are the main parts of a question. To find them, first take out all but the
most important nouns:
I’m taking an online course for the first time and I’d like to learn
more about the differences between regular face-to-face classes
and online learning, so I can be better prepared. I’m especially
concerned about the amount of time I need to invest, since I’m
already working full time. Do you think there’s any helpful
information out there?
The other parts of the question are also important – they will help you to
determine if what you find in your search is pertinent to the initial question.
But for searching purposes, you’ll want to determine key terms:
face-to-face classes online learning time

4. 3. Building a search grid
Initial terms Face-to-
face classes
Online
learning
Time
Synonyms
Thesaurus
terms
Using my initial terms, I’ll start to build a search grid. This is
important because it helps keep the search process organized.
Each facet term has its own column.
The rows are for your initial terms, synonyms, and thesaurus
terms.
facet 1 facet 2 facet 3
!

5. 4. Brainstorming for synonyms for your facets
Initial terms Face-to-face
classes
Online learning Time
Synonyms In-person classes
Conventional classes
Distance education
Online education
Time investment
Time requirements
Thesaurus
terms
Think about other words and phrases that mean the same thing as your initial
terms. The next step involves using the ERIC thesaurus, but it’s great to use a
regular thesaurus (paper or online) to find other terms for this phase.
This step is important because it helps you to start thinking about some of the
different ways your facets can be expressed.

6. 5. Finding terms in the ERIC/EbscoHost Thesaurus
Initial terms Face-to-face
classes
Online learning Time
Synonyms In-person classes
Conventional classes
Distance education
Online education
Time investment
Time requirements
Thesaurus
terms
Next it’s time to look at how the database thesaurus defines your facet terms. This is
important because the ERIC / EbscoHost bibliographic database indexes its records
using subject headings. The thesaurus explains how the subject headings are used.
For example, while the word education may seem to be a good word to describe
teaching, the ERIC thesaurus subject heading notes may suggest that you find a
narrower term.

7. 5. Finding terms in the ERIC Thesaurus
Here’s where you’ll find the thesaurus:
Type in your first synonym. Don’t forget your initial term!
Click on the link, and then scroll down the lists of terms. Use the ‘expand’ feature to
verify whether the word or term means the same thing you think it means.

8. 5. Finding terms in the ERIC Thesaurus
This part (and other parts, too) takes patience and creativity. Often, you’ll get
this message:
When this happens, don’t give up! Persistence pays off. Sometimes there’s
only one subject heading that fits your concept, but not always. Try
broadening your concept: education instead of online education.
A favorite ‘quick and dirty’ tactic of mine is to search for a term anyway – as a
natural language term, as a title or keyword phrase:
I’ll look at the subject headings of the items that are retrieved to see what
might work for my search.

9. 5. Finding terms in the ERIC Thesaurus
Initial
terms
Face-to-face
classes
Online learning Time
Synonyms In-person classes
Conventional classes
Distance education
Online education
Time investment
Time requirements
Thesaurus
terms
Conventional
instruction
Traditional schools
Distance education
Extension education
Online courses
Electronic learning
Student responsibility
Time factors (learning)
Time management
(I decided that ‘student
responsibility’ didn’t really
capture the same idea –
although I knew that what
I wanted was about the
student’s responsibility for
time management)
As you find good terms, and verify them, enter them on your search grid in the appropriate facet
place. Do this for every synonym, checking out how the terms are defined by the thesaurus. Use
your grid to add notes to yourself! Finally, double-check your facets: do all the terms and phrases
in each facet mean the same thing?
Although it takes a while to do this, you’ll be rewarded when you conduct your search.
!

10. 6. Rephrase the original question as a Boolean statement
Initial
terms
Face-to-face
classes
Online learning Time
Synonyms In-person classes
Conventional classes
Distance education
Online education
Time investment
Time requirements
Thesaurus
terms
Conventional
instruction
Traditional schools
Distance education
Extension education
Online courses
Electronic learning
Time factors (learning)
Time management
If you’ve read a little about Boolean logic, you may have learned that it’s really just a
way to express your concepts as a sort of ‘question logic’ – an annotation of how you
want these concepts to be related. The basic Boolean operators are and, or, and not.
But what does that mean for this search grid I’ve created? Next slide, please.

11. Initial
terms
Face-to-face
classes
Online learning Time
Synonyms In-person classes
Conventional classes
Distance education
Online education
Time investment
Time requirements
Thesaurus
terms
Conventional
instruction
OR
Traditional schools
Distance education
OR
Extension education
OR
Online courses
OR
Electronic learning
Time factors (learning)
OR
Time management
6. Rephrase the original question as a Boolean statement
The OR is here to show that for each facet, you want any of the terms. Again, I’m
focusing on Thesaurus terms only (but you could use the same Boolean expression for
natural language terms). Expressed as a Boolean statement, the first facet would look
like this: (conventional instruction) or (traditional schools).
Note: The parentheses are used for subject phrases, not single words. Their use is to
ensure that terms stay together as phrases.

12. 6. Rephrase the original question as a Boolean statement
Initial
terms
Face-to-face
classes
Online learning Time
Synonyms In-person classes
Conventional classes
Distance education
Online education
Time investment
Time requirements
Thesaurus
terms
Conventional
instruction
Traditional schools
Distance education
Extension education
Online courses
Electronic learning
Time factors (learning)
Time management
A
N
D
The AND is used here to show that we are combining facets: all subject terms for facet 1 AND all
subject terms for facet 2 AND all subject terms for facet 3. Here’s what this would look like as a
Boolean statement:
((conventional instruction) OR (traditional schools)) AND ((distance education) OR (extension
education) OR (online courses) OR (electronic learning)) AND ((time factors (learning)) OR (time
management))
NOTE: In addition to using parentheses to ‘hold together’ subject phrases, in this Boolean
statement, I’m also using them to ‘hold together’ facets. This indicates that I want each facet to be
considered as a set.
A
N
D

13. 6. From Boolean statement to search syntax
Boolean statement:
((conventional instruction) OR (traditional schools)) AND ((distance education) OR (extension
education) OR (online courses) OR (electronic learning)) AND ((time factors (learning)) OR (time
management))
ERIC search syntax: includes field indicators (in this case, the subject field):
((su conventional instruction) OR (su traditional schools)) AND ((su distance education)
OR (su extension education) OR (su online courses) OR (su electronic learning)) AND ((su
time factors (learning)) OR (su time management))
… but what does that look like in an actual search?
Q: Why bother to create a search syntax statement? Why not just put terms directly into the search
boxes?
A: This is how we document the search process. It tells you (and others) exactly what you did. When
you document like this, I can re-create your search – and so can you (or your patron).

14. 7. From planning to searching: Single-facet searching
1. Using the ADVANCED ERIC search, put each of your facet 1 subject headings in its
own line. Add a line if you need more room.
2. Use the dropdown indicators to tell ERIC how to combine your facet 1 terms.
3. Now, use the dropdown menu on the right to indicate which field you’re searching.
4. Next, click on the button. Look at the records your single-facet search has
retrieved. You’ll want to focus on the subject headings of those records, but scan through
titles as well, to look for items that seem pertinent to your facet. Do this for EACH facet,
making sure to include ALL your subject headings, and clearing the search boxes after each
search.
Q: Why take all this time to look at the results each facet? Why shouldn’t I just put all
my facets into the search?
A: By looking at results for each set of (more or less synonymous) subject headings,
you’re testing your terms. You’re also seeing if there are other subject headings that
can be added to your search.

15. 7. From planning to searching: combining your facets
1. Once you’ve searched each separate facet, adding or changing your subject headings
based on what you’ve seen, it’s time to combine them into one search. I’ll use ERIC’s
Search History feature to do this:
Combine your single-facet searches by
clicking on the box in front of each one,
and then choosing to search with AND.

16. 7. From planning to searching: review your search results – and revise, if
needed.
My search retrieved 18 items. Now it’s time to look at results. As I did with each
single-facet search, I’ll scan through these items. It’s still not too late to revise my search!
I constantly think back to the original question to be absolutely sure I didn’t stray off
track – it’s SO easy to do that.
Use ‘Add to folder’ to save the best results – but don’t
forget to look at the subject headings! Click on the title to
see more about each item, too.
TIP: It’s a good idea to create an account and save your searches – that way you can return to them.