Searching 101

Advanced Searching

In the Basic search section we discussed the first 4 steps that are needed to complete a simple search. Advanced searching combines those 4 steps with the rest of the process allowing researchers to go deeper into a topic. We'll define the rest of the steps of the process here. 

1. Use syntax and Boolean operators in your query for better results and less junk
   1. Test your search - searching is an art, not an exact science 
      1. Run your search
      2. Evaluate the results - what do the results look like? Did you get a lot of relevant results? If not you need to refine. 
      3. Refine if needed
      4. Run the search again - are the results better? Are they lacking in any way?
      5. Repeat as needed
2. Have a search query that you're happy with? 
   1. Test the search in multiple places - some database coverage will overlap but not everything will.  
      1. Depending on where you search you may need to "translate" your query so that it is readable by another source. Not all databases (or search engines) work the same, nor do they have a universal structured language
   2. Evaluate the results from the differing databases/search engines/ etc. 
3. Pull the results that you want to use in your project or paper 
   1. Keep a record of everything that you do! List out the keywords, the combination of those terms, where you searched, and how good the results were. This will save you time and frustration if you put the work down and come back to it later. 
   2. Keep in mind - not everything will have full text access (unless you refine your search for that)
   3. Citation Managers are really helpful for keeping citations organized, shareable, and accessible to word processing software
4. Cite your sources in your work!!

If you have suggestions for how to make this page better, please contact Elizabeth Jerow, Library Director (jerow@msoe.edu).