Planning an effective search strategy Search techniques Managing search results

Devising a Search Strategy Step 1 What is being asked? Step 2 Key and alternative search terms Step 3 Combine search terms Step 4 Plan where to search Step 5 Execute and refine search Step 6 Manage search results

Vote Now! a. Understanding the assignment question b. Identifying & combining key search terms to form a search c. Knowing where to search d. Searching databases efficiently e. Managing search results Which of these steps do you find most difficult?

Why use a search strategy? Better chance of finding what I need Manage my search results more effectively Better chance of finding reliable information Saves time Better assignment marks Able to re-use your search strategy Able to identify relevant databases or other information sources

1. Understand your assignment question  What is being asked?  Discuss your project with your supervisor / tutor  Do you understand the terminology?  Background reading  Learning services: Assignment help

2. Identify key search terms “Discuss the impact of parental mental health problems on developing children”

2. Identify alternative search terms “Discuss the impact of parental mental health problems on developing children” ParentalMental healthChildren guardian mother father caregiver

2. Identify alternative search terms “Discuss the impact of parental mental health problems on developing children” ParentalMental healthChildren guardianpsychologicalchild motheranxietychild development fathermental illnessadolescent caregivermental disorderpaediatric emotional disorder

2. Identify alternative search terms  Broader terms will help find more general information e.g. “mental health” instead of “depression”  Narrower terms help find more specific information e.g. “mother” OR “father” instead of “parent”  Synonyms or related terms different ways of expressing the concept e.g. “youth” OR “teenager” OR “adolescent”

Search Tips Truncation * This symbol will find any ending of a word e.g. child* will find child, childhood, children etc. Wildcard Characters ? This symbol is used to replace any single character, ? This symbol cannot be used to begin a word. e.g. wom?n will find woman and women Phrase Searching “quotation marks” placed around two or more words will ensure they appear together in search results. e.g “risk assessment” will retrieve more focused search results.

2. Identify key search terms and alternatives “Discuss the impact of parental mental health problems on developing children” ParentalMental healthChildren guardian*psychologicalchild* mother*anxietychild development father*“mental illness”adolescent caregiver“mental disorder”paediatric parent*“emotional disorder”

2. Identify key search terms, alternatives and limiters “Discuss the impact of parental mental health problems on developing children” ParentalMental healthChildrenLimits guardian*psychologicalchild*Location: England mother*anxietychild development father*“mental illness”adolescentPublication: post caregiver“mental disorder”paediatric parent*“emotional disorder”

3. Bring your search terms together  Combining search terms using Boolean operators to broaden or narrow search results. 

4. Plan where you search   Discover More Discover More  Google Scholar Google Scholar  Books, conference proceedings, dissertations or theses (Index of Theses and EThOS)Index of ThesesEThOS  Blogs, Twitter and Discussion Lists

5. Execute and refine your search.  Basic and Advanced Search Options  Help pages  Keep searching  Apply limits to focus your search

6. Manage searches and results WHY?  Cover all relevant search terms  Save searches  Combining saved searches  Keep up to date with an ‘ alert’ facility

Vote Now! a. Understanding the assignment question b. Identifying & combining key search terms to form a search c. Knowing where to search d. Searching databases efficiently e. Managing search results Which of these would you like more help with?

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