Search effectively

The Planning Process

There are four important steps in the planning of an effective search strategy.

Click on the icons below to learn more about each step:
 

• Tempting as it is to type whole questions into a search box, you will get better results if you focus on the main concepts and ignore common words

• Authors use all kinds of words to describe similar concepts, so you too should come up with a list of synonyms with which to search.

• Some search tips are universal and can be applied regardless of which database you are using.

• Once you have a list of potential search terms, you need to connect them using the Boolean operators AND & OR