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Keyword vs. Controlled Vocabulary Searching 12 Basic Skills for IQ. The four pillars of IQ. Find R etrieve A nalyze U se. Searching for information falls under the “Find” portion of the FRAU acronym that defines the four pillars of Information Quality. What is keyword searching?.
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Keyword vs. ControlledVocabulary Searching 12 Basic Skills for IQ
The four pillars of IQ • Find • Retrieve • Analyze • Use Searching for informationfalls under the “Find”portion of the FRAU acronymthat defines the four pillarsof Information Quality
What is keyword searching? • Uses common language to find information in databases • Searches across multiple fields • May be truncated for searching on word variations • May be used in combination with other keywords
What is controlled vocabulary searching? • Uses subject headings or descriptors assigned to database records to find information • Does not allow use of variant forms of the subject terms • Controlled vocabulary/subject headings/ descriptors can be thought of asformal ways of “tagging”information Image source: http://www.patheos.com/Topics.html
Keyword searching May be used to find information on current subjects, trends May use synonyms May combine terms (using AND, OR, or NOT) May be used to find subject headings Subject searching Hits usually relevant May provide suggestions for narrower, broader, or related terms Will return all items in the database indexed with the subject term used in the search Advantages
Keyword searching Results are often too broad, returning irrelevant hits Not indexed to specific fields in records Multiple search terms are often needed to find relevant information Subject searching Cannot take advantage of recently coined terms, new topics or jargon If the database does not provide a thesaurus or browsable list, determining the proper subject heading can be difficult Disadvantages
Where do you search? • Online databases • Library catalog • World Wide Web
Effective searching • Depends on the database being searched • Depends on the quality of the database’s indexing • Combines the best elements of keyword and subject searching
When searching, remember… • If using keywords, search all synonyms and word forms, including variations in spelling • Often, enclosing words in quotation marks will tell the database or search engine to search the words as a phrase • If the database uses subject headings or descriptors, find a subject heading that comes closest to your research topic • If you get stuck, overwhelmed or frustrated, contact a librarian
Questions? Please contact me or one of the other Stitt librarians if you have questions or need help. Kathy Fowler Stitt Library 404-4876 kfowler@austinseminary.edu www.austinseminary.edu/iq