CRICOS No. 00213J

Developing an effective Search Strategy

Part 1:What do I need and How do I find it?

CRICOS No. 00213J

Why is a search strategy [Plan] important?

• There is a lot of information out there

• It will help us identify what we need to look for

• It will help us to search more effectively

• It will save us time

CRICOS No. 00213J

You are required to adopt a position on the following statement (agree or disagree/take a side)

The statement :Nurses need to be clever (knowledgeable) to care

State whether you agree or disagree with the statement . Construct an argument to support your position. Justifying and support your position with contemporary evidence from a variety of relevant information sources such as journal articles and textbooks.

Part 1:What do I need and How do I find it?

Your Topic:

CRICOS No. 00213J

For your chosen topic : (1) Identify the

directive words

any limiting words

main concepts

(2) Think of alternative words for each main concept

CRICOS No. 00213J

Directive words – What kind of assignment is this?An analysis? An argument? A discussion? A comparison?

Main Concepts – Identify what this assignment is really about. Three maybe four concepts/words.

CRICOS No. 00213J

You are required to adopt a position on the following statement (agree or disagree/take a side)

The statement :Nurses need to be clever (knowledgeable) to care

State whether you agree or disagree with the statement . Construct an argument to support your position. Justifying and support your position with contemporary evidence from a variety of relevant information sources such as journal articles and textbooks.

Directive word Main Concepts

Your Topic:

CRICOS No. 00213J

Main concepts…

brainstorm alternative words, synonyms, alternate spellings + related terms.

Nurse Nursing, Nurses

Clever science, knowledgeable, educated, competent, technical

Care art, caring, holistic, compassionate, empathetic,

Concept 1

Concept 2

Concept 3

CRICOS No. 00213J

Constructing a Search Strategy using Boolean Operators

Operator OR broadens a search

Nurses200

records

Nursing300

records OR 500 records

Operator AND narrows a search

Clever1000

records

Nurses200

records

AND100

records

CRICOS No. 00213J

Nurse Nursing Nurses

Clever science knowledge competent OR educated OR technical

Care art caring holistic OR compassionate OR empathetic

Our search strategy for your topic:

OR

OR OR OR

OR OR

OR OR

AND

AND

Concept 1

Concept 2

Concept 3

Remember, you don’t have to use all your terms at the same time!

CRICOS No. 00213J

Searching tools

As well as Boolean ‘AND’ and ‘OR’…

Phrase Searching Use “inverted commas” or “quotation marks” around phrases. For eg “early childhood education”, “eating disorders”, “women drivers”.

Truncation Try truncating a term to broaden your search results. The truncation symbol is usually the asterisk

For eg child* , will retrieve the terms children, child, childless , etcFor eg, aggress* , will retrieve the terms aggressive, aggression, etc

CRICOS No. 00213J

Library

CRICOS No.00213J

Division of Technology Information and Learning Support

Where can I use this strategy?

Library CatalogueBooks, videos, DVDs, kits

Internet searchingObscure topics, Government +

organisational reports, company information

Library DatabasesNewspaper + journal articles,

conference papers, theses

Slide 14