SEARCH

STRATEGY
PRE-SEARCH
PRE-SEARCH
IDENTIFY KEYWORDS
Identify key concepts and terms in your problem statement.

Example:
The problem to be addressed in this study is whether employing social
media marketing strategies in fast food chain restaurants in Lebanon
has a direct effect on increasing sales and gross revenue consequently.

Social media
Marketing strategies
Fast food chain restaurants
Lebanon
Sales
Gross revenue
PRE-SEARCH
IDENTIFY SYNONYMS,
RELATED/NARROWER/BROADER
TERMS
Identify if there are any synonymous or alternative terms for the
keywords you just identified.

Examples:
Social media
Public network / Social communication

Fast Food
Junk food

Sales
Vending / Trades / Selling
PRE-SEARCH
IDENTIFY SYNONYMS,
RELATED/NARROWER/BROADER
TERMS
Identify broader and narrower terms to improve your search.

Examples:
Marketing
Advertising (NARROWER)

Lebanon
Middle East (BROADER)
PRE-SEARCH
DECIDE WHERE TO SEARCH

Select a search tool or a combination of search tools that best suit

your research.

1. Online library databases

2. The library catalog
3. Open access sites (for free online materials)
4. Google
5. Individual sites (company and organization sites)...
SEARCH
SEARCH
• Information retrieval is the process through which a
computer system can respond to a user's query for text-
based information on a specific topic.

• Search tools don’t speak our language. They operate

according to set of rules in information retrieval called
search algorithms.

• Therefore, and in order for the search tool to correctly

locate and retrieve needed information based on its
search algorithm, the user query needs to be translated
into a search statement.
 Boolean operators connect
your search terms together
to either narrow or broaden
SEARCH your results.
STATEMENT: The Basic Boolean operator
BOOLEAN are:
OPERATORS
AND
OR
NOT
SEARCH STATEMENT:
BOOLEAN OPERAT ORS
AND

Use AND to:

• Tell the database that
ALL search terms must
be present in the
resulting records
• Narrow your results

Ex:
Health AND Smoking
This search statement will
retrieve results containing both
keywords Health and
Smoking.
SEARCH STATEMENT:
BOOLEAN OPERAT ORS
OR

Use OR to:
• Connect 2 or more
related/synonymous
keywords
• Tell the database that ANY
of your search terms can be
present in the resulting
records
• Broaden your results

Ex:
Teenagers OR Adolescents
This search statement will
retrieve results containing either
Teenagers or Adolescents or
both.
SEARCH STATEMENT:
BOOLEAN OPERAT ORS
NO T

Use NOT to:

• Exclude words from your
search results
• Narrow your results

Ex:
Smoking NOT Cigarette
This search statement will
exclude Cigarette and retrieve
results containing Smoking
only.
 SEARCH Use the “ ” whenever you
STATEMENT: have two or more keywords
PHRASE that you want to search for
SEARCH
as a phrase.
SEARCH
STATEMENT:
PHRASE SEARCH
Examples:
• title of book, poem, song, article:
“the black swan”
• a line within a poem, song: “and I will
always love you”
• idioms and proverbs: “look before you
leap”
• full names of people: “Albert
Einstein”
• compound words: “daughter-in-law”
“first aid”
 LET’S WRITE A SEARCH STATEMENT
• Problem Statement:
This research will study the influence of advertising on incidents of anorexia in adolescents.
• Keywords:
advertising anorexia adolescents
• Pick two related terms to advertising:
– Billboards
– Censorship
– TV commercials
• What is one synonym for anorexia?
– Autism
– Insomnia
– Eating disorder
• What is one synonym for adolescents?
– Teenagers
– Infants
– Toddlers
• Search Statement:
– Advertising AND Anorexia AND Adolescents
– Advertising OR Billboards OR “TV Commercials” AND Anorexia OR “Eating Disorder”
AND Adolescents OR Teenagers
 LET’S WRITE A SEARCH STATEMENT
• Problem Statement:
This research will study the relation between global warming and drought.

• Keywords:
global warming drought

• Search Statement:
– “global warming” AND drought
– “global warming” AND drought OR “water deficiency”
– “global warming” OR “climate change” AND drought OR “water
deficiency”
P O S T- S E A R C H
POST-
SEARCH
If you found too
many or too few
results or if the
search results
were
unsatisfying or
irrelevant, then
you need to
review and
modify your
search.