1. How do I develop a search strategy?
Cumberland County College Library
How do I develop a search strategy?

2. Developing a Strategy What’s a Search Strategy? Take your topic and…
DETERMINE what you want to know.
DEVELOP a hypothesis.
DECIDE what are the best keywords.
DESIGN a plan to find relevant information.
You can use a search strategy in any database or in search engine.
It is a skill—you have to practice and adapt.
Helps you make a blueprint for searching your topic.
In the end, if efficient will save you time because you have what you need up-front.
On DECIDE– explain what a keyword is.
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

3. Developing a Strategy: Step 1 DETERMINE what you want to know.
Decide on your topic!
Let’s look at:
BULLYING
Worksheet
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

4. Developing a Strategy: Step 1 DETERMINE what you want to know.
Be specific! What do we want to know about bullying? I want to know if bullying contributes to mental illness.
Worksheet
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

5. Developing a Strategy: Step 2 DEVELOP a hypothesis.
What do you think you’ll find? What do you think is the answer? I think that… Bullying does contribute to mental illness.
Have the students tell you what they think the result of their research will be.
Worksheet
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

6. Developing a Strategy: Step 3 DECIDE what are my best keywords?
What are my KEYWORDS? Let’s start with the most important words in my sentence. I want to know if bullying contributes to mental illness.
Worksheet
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

7. Developing a Strategy: Step 3 DECIDE what are my best keywords?
Let’s think about our words: First, let’s look at BULLYING. What are some synonyms, antonyms and related terms? What are the issues or subjects in my topic?
Explain synonym and related term.
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

8. Developing a Strategy: Step 3 DECIDE what are my best keywords?
BULLYING
What types of bullying are there?
Where does it happen?
Why are people bullied?
CYBERBULLYING
WORKPLACE
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
SCHOOL
HAZING
SOCIAL MEDIA
FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM
HIGH SCHOOL
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
MIDDLE SCHOOL
COLLEGE
BODY TYPE
DISABILITIES
RACE/ETHNICITY/CULTURE
RELIGION/FAITH
GENDER
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Have them give you keywords.
Add keywords to worksheet.
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

9. Developing a Strategy: Step 3 DECIDE what are my best keywords?
Let’s think about our words: Now, let’s look at MENTAL ILLNESS. What are some synonyms, antonyms and related terms? What are the issues or subjects in my topic?
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

10. Developing a Strategy: Step 3 DECIDE what are my best keywords?
MENTAL ILLNESS
What are some types of mental illness?
What are some of the consequences of mental illness?
DEPRESSION
ANXIETY
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
JOB PERFORMANCE
MORALE, PRODUCTIVITY
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
GRADES, ATTENDANCE
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
FRIENDSHIP, ROMANTIC, FAMILY
SELF-HARMING BEHAVIOR
SUBSTANCE ABUSE, SELF-MUTILATION/CUTTING, SUICIDE
Have them give you the keywords.
Add keywords to worksheet.
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

11. Developing a Strategy: Step 4 DESIGN a plan to find information.
How do we combine our terms?
We will use “search operators”:
AND OR
Explain search operator:
Search operator is a tool that tells the database how to look for your words.
It allows you to search multiple keywords and defines your question.
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

12. Developing a Strategy: Step 4 DESIGN a plan to find information.
AND When you use AND, you only get results that include all of your keywords. AND lets you narrow the search.
Explain AND
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

13. Developing a Strategy: Step 4 DESIGN a plan to find information.
AND looks like this:
MENTAL
ILLNESS
BULLYING
Explain Venn Diagram – Where AND terms fall.
AND
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

14. Developing a Strategy: Step 4 DESIGN a plan to find information.
What are two keywords we can combine with AND? _______________AND______________
MENTAL ILLNESS
BULLYING
Have them combine keywords.
Worksheet
CYBERBULLYING
DEPRESSION
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

15. Developing a Strategy: Step 4 DESIGN a plan to find information.
OR When you use OR, you get results that include at least one of your keywords. OR lets you broaden your search.
Explain OR
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

16. Developing a Strategy: Step 4 DESIGN a plan to find information.
OR looks like this: OR
BULLYING
CYBERBULLYING
Explain Venn Diagram – Show where OR is.
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

17. Developing a Strategy: Step 4 DESIGN a plan to find information.
What are two keywords we can combine with OR? _______________OR______________
BULLYING
CYBERBULLYING
Have them combine terms.
Worksheet
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
WORKPLACE BULLYING
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016

18. To the databases! Cumberland County College Library Website
Let’s Try It!
To the databases! Cumberland County College Library Website
Go to the library website
Show how to get to databases
Explain off-campus access
In EBSCO, perform a search with just bullying. Number of results?
Perform one of the AND searches they came up with. Number of results?
Perform one of the OR searches that they came up with. Number of results?
Compare the three.
Pick an article.
Show the relevant bibliographic portions and show the tools.
© Cumberland County Library: Spring 2016