GS 108: INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION LITERACY

LECTURE 4:
Searching and retrieval of information from online
sources

LECTURER: Dr Everlyn M. Anduvare

Bishop McCauley Memorial Library
Email: [email protected]

Putting Research Information at the Centre of Scholarship 1

 Expected Learning outcomes

By the end of this lesson, The students should be able

to:
Explain the key elements of a search strategy in
retrieving online resources.
Discuss the key information search strategies.
Retrieve a relevant scholarly article.
Identify the main e-resources in their area of study.

Putting Research Information at the Centre of Scholarship 2

 INTRODUCTION
The key to being a savvy online searcher is to use common
search techniques that you can apply to almost any
database, including article databases, online catalogs and
even commercial search engines.
This is important because searching library databases is a
bit different from searching Google.
The techniques described in this section will enable you to
quickly retrieve relevant information from the thousands of
records in a database.
Searching and retrieving relevant literature is achieved by
using a search strategy.
 HOW TO FORMULATE AND USE A SEARCH
STRATEGY

What is a search?
A search is the organized pursuit of information.
It is based on the assumption that somewhere in
a collection of documents, email messages, web
pages, electronic books, online journals and other
sources, there is information that you want to
find but you have no idea where it is.
 What is a search Strategy?
 It is a logical series of steps for planning and preparing an
efficient way to collect pertinent information on a given topic.
 A search strategy varies depending upon the topic, the nature of
the subject, and what type of information is needed.
 The more care and thought you put into your search strategy, the
more relevant your search results will be.
 A well designed search strategy:
 Saves you time in the long run
 Allows you to search for information in many different places
 Helps you to find a larger amount of relevant information
 A search strategy has various steps:
 i. Defining your search question /topic
This involves understanding the query or the
information need
Involves :
Deciding the topic of your search in precise
terms
Establishing what exactly you are looking for
This process is known as defining your search
question, or framing an answerable question.
This step reduces the amount of time spent
sifting through irrelevant results and papers.
 ii. Identifying the main concepts in your question
Involves:
Sharpening your focus since you are able to limit attention
to specific aspects and give concrete direction to your
search
Identifying the major concepts/Keywords in the query e.g.
Keywords; side effects, drugs, youth
These keyword become the words and phrases you type into
the search boxes of the information sources you choose.
Also, think about the parameters or boundaries of your project.
What are you not going to consider or include?
Think about them before you start your search and be
transparent about any information you decide to exclude.
iii. Identify potential terms to correspond to those
concepts or key words

To increase the likelihood of finding relevant material,

you need to think about alternative terms that can be used to
describe the same concepts
You should think about:
Synonyms (e.g. mobile telephones, cellular telephones)
Plural/singular forms (e.g. women, woman)
Spelling variations(e.g. behaviour, behavior)
Variations of a root word (e.g. feminism, feminist,
feminine)
Acronyms (e.g. chief executive officer, CEO) etc.
Narrower, broader, or related
 iv. Deciding which databases to search
Involves finding out which database is
relevant to your information need in terms of
subject coverage
(a) Subject Headings
Subject headings describe the content of each item in a database.
Also known as descriptors
Use these headings to find relevant items on the same topic. 
Searching by subject headings is the most precise way to search article
databases.
It is not easy to guess which subject headings are used in a given
database.
Start with a keyword search, using words/phrases that describe your
topic.
Browse the results; choose 2 or 3 that are relevant.
Look at the Subject or Descriptor field and note the terms used (write
them down).
Redo your search using those terms.
Your results will be more precise than your initial keyword search.
(b) Keywords

Keyword searching is how you typically search web search

engines. 

Think of important words or phrases and type them in to get results.

To find subject headings for your topic:
 Look to see if the database has an online thesaurus to browse for
subjects that match your topic.
(c) Use of Boolean operators
Boolean operators form the basis of mathematical sets and database
logic.
They connect your search words together to either narrow or
broaden your set of results.
The three basic Boolean operators are: AND, OR, and NOT.
Why use Boolean operators?
 To focus a search, particularly when your topic contains multiple
search terms.
 To connect various pieces of information to find exactly what
you're looking for.
Example:
second creation (title) AND Otieno (author) AND 2000 (year)
 (i)USING AND

 Use AND in a search to:

 Narrow your results
 Tell the database
that ALL search terms must be
present in the resulting records
 Example: cloning AND humans
AND ethics
 The purple triangle in the middle
of the Venn diagram represents the
result set for this search.
 It is a small set using AND, the
combination of all three search
words.
 (ii)Using OR
 Use OR in a search to:
 Connect two or more similar concepts
(synonyms)
 Broaden your results, telling the database
that ANY of your search terms can be
present in the resulting records
 Example: cloning OR genetics OR
reproduction

 All three circles represent the result set

for this search.
 It is a big set because any of those words
are valid using the OR operator.
 (iii) Using NOT
Use NOT in a search to:
Exclude words from your search
Narrow your search, telling the database to
ignore concepts that may be implied by your
search terms
Example:  cloning NOT sheep
(d) Using Truncation and wild cards
i. Truncation:
Truncation, also called stemming, is a technique that broadens
your search to include various word endings and spellings.
To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation
symbol at the end.
The database will return results that include any ending of that
root word.
Examples: 
child* = child, childs, children, childrens, childhood
genetic* = genetic, genetics, genetically
Truncation symbols may vary by database; common symbols
include: *, !, ?, or #
 What to look for: 
 Root words that have multiple endings.  Example: sun = suns,
sunshine, sunny, sunlight
 Words that are spelled differently, but mean the same thing. 
Example:  color, colour
 Truncation/wildcard symbols vary by database. 
 Check the help screens to find out which symbols are used.
ii. Wildcards:
 Similar to truncation, wildcards substitute a symbol for one letter
of a word.
 This is useful if a word is spelled in different ways, but still
has the same meaning.
Examples: 
wom!n = woman, women
colo?r = color, colour
(e) Fields
Records in library databases are comprised of fields containing specific
pieces of bibliographic information. Common fields include:
author
title
journal title
abstract
publisher
date/year of publication
subject/descriptor
How database fields improve your search
 Limiting your search to specific database fields can yield more
precise results.
For instance, if you are looking for books by Adam Smith instead
of about him, it is more efficient to limit your search to the author
field.
To find various fields within a database, look for drop down
boxes or menus to select the field you want to search.
Then combine words and fields together with Boolean or
proximity operators, depending on how precise you want to
be.
If you do not choose a specific field, the database usually
reverts to a keyword search, where your words will be
searched throughout the record.
If your keyword search retrieves too many records (more
than 50), try narrowing your search to retrieve a more
manageable result.
Information overload - too many results - can be a worse
situation than finding only 10 very relevant results.
(f) Using Phrases
What to look for:
Tips in using phrases to search
Most databases allow you to specify that adjacent words
be searched as phrases.
Using parentheses or quotes around search words is a
common way to do phrase searching, but not all
databases or search engines use them.
Example:  "genetic engineering"
Hint: It is often very easy to do phrase searching from
the Advanced or Guided search in a database.
(g) Proximity operators
Many databases allow you to specify that the words you are
searching are within a certain proximity of each other.
Proximity operators are more specific than Boolean operators and
make your search more precise.
Examples
 Proximity operators also vary by database, but some common
ones include:
w# = with
 With specifies that words appear in the order you type them in.
Substitute the # with a number of words that may appear in
between. If no number is given, then it specifies an exact
phrase.
 Examples:
genetic w engineering (searches the phrase genetic
engineering)
Hillary w2 Clinton (retrieves Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham
Clinton, etc.)

 n# = near
 Near specifies that the words may appear in any order.
 Substitute the # with a number of words that may appear in
between.
Examples:
cloning n3 human (retrieves cloning of humans, human
cloning etc.)
 Consult the database Help screens to find out how to search by
phrases or to specify proximity. 
 b. Saving your results

 Always save or print the useful article records you find. Most
databases give you a few options, such as:
save - as a text file
print
email
export - to reference software such as EndNote.

Exercises (not graded)

i. Identify four (4) e-databases that you would refer in retrieval of

information in ‘your subject area’. (www.cuea.edu – electronic
resources).

ii. Identify barriers to accessing information in ‘your subject area’ in

developing countries.