Hello my name is Lisa. Welcome to this video on Creating an effective search strategy
Before you start searching you need to think about your keywords. Those are the words
that you type into a search box or into a database to find information
on your topic
You base your keywords on your question so take your
question and identify the main topic areas.
And then think about alternative terms for each of those
You may be tempted to type your question straight into the search
box. However you won't get good results that way.
First of all authors might not be using the same
vocabulary that you are. So if you just type your question in
you are limiting your search to those words
You also need to think about how databases work. They will
usually match your search word for word and that isn't
the best way of getting information out of a database.
Let's look at how to manage a search. So if we take this as our topic What are the challenges
and opportunities for wearable technologies for business? The first thing to think about
is the scope of our question. So we are only
interested in wearable technology in relation business
we are not interested in healthcare. We also have to think about what we actually mean
by wearable technology. So for some people
wearable technology means a pocket watch. But is that really what we are looking
for? So make sure you clarify the meaning for your keywords
Think about potential meanings. What you are looking for
so the most relevant and recent information. I know
that what I mean by wearable technology is fitness
trackers or Fitbits. I don't actually mean pocket watches or
even glasses which some people might think of wearable
technology. So back to our question. We have our main
topic areas.We've got wearable technology and business
Those are the two most things that have to appear in all
of our results. We also have challenges and opportunities
and I am not going to include that in my search because it is unusual for authors
to actually use those words. I'm just going to focus on the main
core of my question which is wearable technology and business.
A way fo finding alternative terms for your keywords
is to consider synonyms.
The ones I have on the screen are quite colloqual. That is not the terminology that a
an academic or scientific writer would use so one of the things you need to
consider when you are thinking about alternative terms is what
vocabulary would an academic writer use.
So from my question and I've got the keyword wearable technology
I've managed to think about some alternative terms like wearable
sensors and wearable devices. And at this point I might do a little bit of light
searching on Google Scholar or on Discover
to try and find some other keywords and alternative terms
This searching would help me narrow down my topic
and allow me to think about my to think about the different aspects
of the subject and feel confident
that I've found accurate keywords for my search.
If your topic is very large you might need to break your search down
into managable sections. You can do this my breaking your topic down
into time segments or narrowing
by topic area. You can also use narrower keywords
to allow you to have a more focussed search.
So I can add the narrow terms of smart textiles and smart clothing
to my search. A good place to find alternative terms is
to try an online thesaurus. Most databases have one built in.
This database, ProQuest Central, has one. If you go into
advance search and you will see the option thesaurus.
Now the MESH 2020 that's medical subject headings so we don't want that.
But if you have a look in the ProQuest thesaurus
So let's have a look in this term here wearable computers.
And if we click here we'll see any narrower terms or related terms
There's also Electrotextiles
and we've got Smart materials. So there's some potentially
useful terms here that I will be able to add into my search
So I'll note those new search terms down on my list.
There are some other things you need to consider when planning your search.
Let's look at these in turn. Truncation is a search
technique that allows you to search for multiple endings on a word.
And to do that just use the root of the word and go shift 8
on your keyword to get the star.
Phrase searching is very useful. It's a way of finding two or more words
next to each other and in that order. So if what you are
searching for is a recognised phrase in this case academic writing
if I use double quotation marks
the computer will find that phrase rather than those words separately.
That's just shift and 2 on a standard UK keyword.
You also have to consider you search limits. Commom ones include date
so how old can the information be and it still be relevant
and useful to you. What part of the world are you looking at?
Does it matter which country the information comes from?
And also are you looking at a particular sector or industry?
In general when you're searching always remember the three Rs
which are recent, relevant and
reliable. Recent- you are looking of the most up to date research
in your field. Only read and include information that is directly
relevant to your topic. It is also important that the information
sources you are using are reliable. Going through the GCU library
website gives you an assurance that the sources that you are using will be of
good quality. Thanks for watching. If you need more assistance please contact your subject librarian by email.