1 / 11

Developing Search Strategies

Developing Search Strategies. Jill Crawley-Low, Veterinary Medicine Library, University of Saskatchewan. Developing Strategies for Searching Electronic Resources. clearly define the question & concepts consider the vocabulary organize the terms construct the search statement

morrisr
Download Presentation

Developing Search Strategies

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Developing Search Strategies Jill Crawley-Low, Veterinary Medicine Library, University of Saskatchewan

  2. Developing Strategies for Searching Electronic Resources • clearly define the question & concepts • consider the vocabulary • organize the terms • construct the search statement • decide which databases to search • execute the search

  3. Clearly Define the Question • example of a precisely worded question: • “are there articles on mycorrhizal symbioses in vascular plants written in the last 5 years?”

  4. Identify the Main Concepts in Your Question • “are there articles on mycorrhizal symbioses in vascular plants written in the last 5 years?” • mycorrhizal symbioses • mycorrhizas • vascular plants • 2000+

  5. Consider the Vocabulary • forms of keywords – mycorrhiza, mycorrhizal, mycorrhizas • synonyms – mycoflora, fungal flora • truncation • ? replaces one character • * replaces more than one character

  6. Organize the Terms • free-text or index searching • Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) • Parentheses

  7. Boolean Operators • most search engines don’t allow natural language - use keywords or key phrases and combine them with Boolean operators • and retrieves records containing both terms (narrows a search) • or retrieves records containing either term (broadens a search)

  8. Parentheses • allow you to control the order in which keywords or key phrases are searched • all search statements containing “and” plus “or” in the same sentence must use parentheses to control search order

  9. Free Text or Index Searching • enter keywords or phrases • e.g. vascular plants or mycorrhiza • search for terms in specific fields • e.g. king in au, vascular plants in ti

  10. Construct the Search Strategy • “are there articles on mycorrhizas or mycorrhizal symbioses in vascular plants written in the last 5 years?” • (mycorrhizas or mycorrhizal symbioses) and vascular plant? and py>=2000

  11. Determine Which Databases to Search • Microbiology Abstracts: Algology, Mycology & Protozoology – references in biological life sciences, medicine, and microbiology http://www.csa.com/factsheets/microbiology-c-set-c.php • Web of Science - citation databases contain the references cited by the authors of the articles, also use these references to do cited reference searching- find articles that cite a previously published work http://scientific.thomson.com/media/scpdf/ba_qrc_11_15.pdf • Biological Abstracts - coverage of worldwide journal literature in the life sciences including agriculture, biochemistry, biotechnology, ecology, immunology, microbiology, neuroscience, pharmacology, public health, and toxicology http://www.biosis.org/media/pdf/qrc/BIOSIS_on_SilverPlatter_QRC.pdf

More Related