Limiting Search Results Strategies

Developing Effective Search Strategies

Constructing a Search Statement

The six steps below will help you to construct effective search terms. In the examples included below, we've taken a single research question:

Is online or internet instruction appropriate for adult students, especially females, in a college or university setting?

and shown how each step might be carried out.

Step 1: Divide your topic into individual concepts.

Example
Concept #1	Concept #2	Concept #3
Level of schooling/education	Type of instruction	Specific population

Step 2: List synonyms in each column to expand the possible vocabulary that can describe each individual concept.

Example
Concept #1 Level of schooling / education	Concept #2 Type of instruction	Concept #3 Specific population
Higher education Colleges Universities	Online teaching Internet in higher education Teaching--computer networked resources	Adult college students Nontraditional students Women college students

Step 3: Connect the terms in each column [i.e., each individual concept] with "OR."

[Doing so expands the search results for each concept by using synonyms.]

Example
Concept #1 Level of schooling / education	Concept #2 Type of instruction	Concept #3 Specific population
Higher education OR Colleges OR Universities	Online teaching OR Internet in higher education OR Teaching--computer networked resources	Adult college students OR Nontraditional students OR Women college students

Step 4: Connect the separate COLUMNS [separate concepts] with "AND."

[Doing so narrows the search results to retrieve only articles that mention all of the search terms.]

Example
Concept #1 Level of schooling / education	AND	Concept #2 Type of instruction	AND	Concept #3 Specific population
Higher education OR Colleges OR Universities	...and...	Online teaching OR Internet in higher education OR Teaching--computer networked resources	...and...	Adult college students OR Nontraditional students OR Women college students

Step 5: Convert terms in the chart to a search statement that can be used in a database.

[NOTE: Always enclose the "OR'ed" terms with parentheses.]

Example

(higher education OR colleges OR universities) AND (online teaching OR internet in higher education OR teaching--computer networked resources) AND (adult college students OR nontraditional students OR women college students)

Step 6: Enter your search statement into the database search boxes.

Example

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This document was created by Carol Wright, Associate Librarian at Penn State's University Libraries.
Instructional design assistance provided by Ann Luck, Senior Instructional Designer for Penn State's World Campus.