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Misc 709 L5

Information literacy is an essential skill for evaluating vast amounts of information from numerous global sources that individuals are increasingly exposed to. Developing strategies for effective information retrieval is critical, as it requires analyzing topics, identifying needed information, and finding the most relevant sources. There are four main types of search strategies - author searches, title searches, subject searches, and keyword searches - with keyword searches often being the most efficient approach, especially for electronic databases and the Internet. Formulating an effective keyword search strategy involves understanding the topic, developing a research statement, identifying main ideas and related keywords, and using Boolean connectors like AND, OR, and NOT to combine search terms and narrow or broaden results.

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22 views3 pages

Misc 709 L5

Information literacy is an essential skill for evaluating vast amounts of information from numerous global sources that individuals are increasingly exposed to. Developing strategies for effective information retrieval is critical, as it requires analyzing topics, identifying needed information, and finding the most relevant sources. There are four main types of search strategies - author searches, title searches, subject searches, and keyword searches - with keyword searches often being the most efficient approach, especially for electronic databases and the Internet. Formulating an effective keyword search strategy involves understanding the topic, developing a research statement, identifying main ideas and related keywords, and using Boolean connectors like AND, OR, and NOT to combine search terms and narrow or broaden results.

Uploaded by

HellenNdegwa
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Information literacy

We are now being bombarded with more and more information from an ever
growing number of global sources. Developing information literacy is a key
transferable skill which is essential in the workplace as well as at university. Both
private companies and the public sector organizations are selecting and evaluating
vast amounts of information on a daily basis.

What is a Search Strategy?


A search strategy is the action plan for retrieving information. A proper search strategy will
save time and allow relevant information from various resources to be retrieved from its sources.
A search strategy is critical to information retrieval because it:

Requires you to analyze your topic;

Helps you to identify what information is needed and how to find it; and

Helps you to find the most relevant information.

Types of Search Strategies


There are basically 4 types of search strategies

Author Search

Title Search

Subject Search

Keyword Search
1. Author Search

If you know the name of the author, search under the name of author using the guide below for
Personal or Corporate Authors.
Title Search

Title Search is mainly used when you know the title of the book or journal.
iii.

Subject Search

Subject Search is conducted when you do not have information on author or title but you only
know the subject.
iv.

Keyword Search

Keyword Search is the most efficient search strategy when you are not searching for specific
items. This strategy is particularly useful for searching electronic databases and the Internet i.e
searching information for your assignment.
Steps in Formulating the Keyword Search Strategy
Understand Assignment Topic
Identify the difficult words and phrases used. Use dictionaries and encyclopedias to explain
and understand the topic.
Formulate/Construct a Research Statement
Summaries the topic into a short statement of problem with a focus on the main concepts only
Analyze to Identify the Main Ideas that make up the Topic
Break up the question into key concepts.
The main topic can be further divided into several sub-topics.
Identify keywords for each concept/sub-topic:

Develop a list of search terms and words related to each sub-topic.


Use encyclopaedias or thesaurus to get the related terms and synonyms to use in the search.
Use broader or narrower terms or scientific terms to achieve much better results.
Select and Combine the Keywords with Boolean Connectors
A Boolean connector helps to narrow down or broaden your search and give a more accurate
search by combining keywords, phrases, or terms. The most common Boolean connector are
AND, OR and NOT. Use the Boolean connectors AND, OR and NOT to combine search terms
for better results.

Boolean Connector AND


Boolean Connector AND is used to combined more than one keyword. For example, if
you want information on marketing and the Internet, you will use AND. Using the Boolean
AND will eliminate all the general information on marketing and will narrow down your search
to select only information on Internet marketing.
b.

Boolean Connector OR

When your search result is too little or you want to find additional articles or books, use
the Boolean connector OR to connect the synonyms of the keywords. This will broaden your
search and increase the amount of information you find. The Boolean connector OR allows for
search within the same concept with different words. Use brackets when using the Boolean
connector OR in the search statement.
For example, you want to search e-business and also e-commerce. Use OR to increase your
search
c.

Boolean Connector NOT

The Boolean connector NOT also narrows the search. It is used to exclude certain aspects from
the search result that is when a particular keyword is not required. Use brackets to group words
under the same concept. The Boolean connector NOT finds records with the first keyword and
eliminates records containing the second keyword. For example, you are only interested in
searches related to marketing. This will retrieve information on marketing on the web excluding
details about retailing aspects.

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