Search Basics

• Too many – narrow by adding more related words
• Too few – broaden your topic
  Synonyms, acronyms, spelling and other variations
• Too new – broaden your topic
• Look for similar concepts in other fields

Here are some suggestions to help you have a more effect search strategy:

• Use precise terminology and be as specific as possible
• Put the important words first
• Try to avoid terms that have multiple meanings – need to disambiguate between common terms
• Sparrow [bird vs. missile]
• Apple [company vs. fruit]
• Sound [noise vs. body of water]
• Typhoon [weather vs. aircraft vs. submarine]
• Use the advanced feature of the database or search engine
• Limit to a specific timeframe
• Limit to specific field
• Author
• Title
• Summary or abstract
• Limit by format/genre/type
• Book
• Ebook
• Article
• Audio