Moving from questions→ to keywords →to finding information
Once you have explored (read broadly around, or thought about the planning process) your subject/topic
you will have identified the areas you want to research and address. It can be helpful to frame your
research topic as questions, and each question should be treated as a separate search for information.
What you need to do
Worked Example
Research question:
Start by identifying the keywords.
From your questions, identify the
concepts/ keywords describe the ideas
and topics which must be present in
your search statement in order to get
relevant search results
Then list synonyms /alternative spelling
for the keywords. This will provide you
with some additional keywords you can
use during searching. One way of doing
this is to use a table that lists the key
words and alternatives.
Think of the limits you want to impose.
This can include time-line, geography,
language and source type, etc.
“What is the impact of Information Literacy in
Higher Education?”
What is the impact of Information Literacy in Higher Education?
Keyword
Alternative
Alternative
Alternative
Impact
effect
influence
indication
Information
Literacy
Information
skills
Searching
skills
Higher
Education
University
Tertiary
Education
HE
Geographical: the UK
Time line: in the last 30 years – i.e. you are searching for
information or research available say post 1997.
Language: English
Some searching conventions you need to know before you start searching – these
include
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Using universal search conventions
Search conventions allow greater control over how you convey your requirements to a search /
finding tool or search engine so that it finds and retrieves the information you require. Search tools
are robotic in nature and require you to instruct them on how to search; otherwise they fall back on
their default programmed position so you need to be able to communicate with them using their
own language.
The good news is that this is relatively simple and straight forward. All you need is to become
familiar with some universal search conventions and what they convey to the search tool/engine.
Once you master them you can use them on most search engines whether they are part of a
database, journal search platform, or an internet search engine such as Google.
Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
These are some of the most important search
conventions. Boolean operators are used to combine
keywords and instruct the search tool/engine on how to
search and retrieve the information you require. To do
this you need to understand how they works.
So using the table from the earlier worked example your
search statement might look like this
Keyword
Alternative
Alternative
Alternative
Impact AND Information literacy AND higher education
Impact
effect
influence
indication
Information
Literacy
Information
skills
Searching
skills
University
Tertiary
Education
Or
(Impact OR influence) AND (information literacy OR
information skills) AND (higher education OR university)
Note sometimes search engines normally require that
you use brackets or inverted commas around the
keywords you are combining using the Boolean operator
OR. This is referred to as nesting. If you are unsure
whether to use them check the help tab on the resource
you are using for searching guides
(Impact OR influence) AND (information literacy OR
information skills) AND higher education OR university
Higher
Education
HE
Do not be put off by this as most search tools have
advanced search menus that you fill in with your
keywords - they guide you through the Boolean
operators. If you have worked out in advance what
Boolean operators you want to use, filling in the menu
is relatively easy.
2 The following is an example of what expressions are used on menus and their Boolean equivalent
Some more search conventions you might want to know about
Using brackets around keywords and concepts. This is also known as nesting and is used to build a
search with a combination of Boolean operators. E.g. (cat OR feline) AND dog
Phrase searching - put your phrases between quotation marks - “experiential learning ”
Use refining and limiting options - by date (year or time line e.g. the last 5 years or specific dates)
Wildcards – This is usually the question mark symbol
?.
It replaces a letter within a word e.g. wom?n
will retrieve “woman” and “women”.
Truncation– This is usually the symbol asterisk *. You can use at the end of a search term. This allows
you to search for all possible endings e.g. Learn * will find learns, learning, learned…
Note - The symbols used for wildcards and truncation vary between different databases and search
tools. You should check the help pages to see what they support before starting your search
For More information on searching and troubleshooting – consult the hand out titled
“Some things you need to know about searching” in the Finding information section
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