Objectives

   Searching

Searching

   Library Home Page

   Search Tools

   Library and the Web

   Web Evaluation

Search Strategies

   Choosing Terms

   Connecting Keywords

   Boolean Operators

   Combining Ideas

Search Strategies

Choosing Search Terms

Whether you are searching the Web or searching a library database, there are some common search strategies you can use to improve your search results.

The first is choosing appropriate search terms or keywords. Begin by thinking about the words and phrases that describe your topic. For instance, if you are researching the effect of pollution and global warming on the ice caps, your keywords would be

·         Pollution

·         Global warming

·         ice caps

Now think about whether there are other terms that could also be used to describe your topic, including synonyms, related terms, or words and phrases that have similar meaning, such as:

·         Contamination or deterioration

·         Climate change

·         Antarctica or Africa or Greenland

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