Good Search Statements

…or thinking more about searching than you ever have

before…

The Vending Machine Search Statement

I’m hungry

Sweet or salty?

M&M’sOreosHoHo’s

Butterfinger

Trail MixHoney Chex Mix

Potato ChipsFritos

NachosSun Chips

A15B4

B16C3

Butterfinger

A1C10

A6A20B3C4

Sun Chips

Trail Mix

The information search topic

• Keywords / Search terms

• Gardasil• Human papilloma virus• HPV• STDs• Cervical cancer• Genital warts• Girls• Adolescents• Parental rights• Vaccine• Prevention• Public health• Mandatory vaccination• Sex education

• Search Statement

Gardasil AND prevention

Vaccin* “parental rights”

Adolescents and STDs

“cervical cancer” AND HPV

+vaccine +parents +HPV

“public health” AND “mandatory vaccination”

“public health” AND “parental rights”

Merck & Co.’s “One Less” ad campaign for the humanpapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil

Different results

for every kind of search

Deconstructing a search statement

HPV AND

TERMS CONNECTORS

vaccine

HPV and vaccine

Terms

Keyword Searching

• WHAT:Using words that may occur somewhere in a document, such as the title, description (abstract) or full-text of the resource itself.

• WHERE:Library catalogs, article databases, Web search engines (like Google).

Vaccine AND HPV

Subject Heading Search• WHAT:

Using standard terms or subject headings that have been identified by an editor to represent the main focus of a document.

• WHERE:Library catalogs, article databases and some other Web databases.

Papillomavirus vaccines

become

Food safety

Food irradiation

Safety of genetically modified foods

Pesticide residue on food products

Food safety

Turning a keyword search into a subject heading search

Food safety becomes

•Food Safety

•Food irradiation

•Safety of genetically modified foods

•Pesticide residue on food products

Turning a subject heading search into a keyword search

Narrowing

Least specific to most specific

food manufacturers

cereal manufacturers

General Mills

Broadening Most specific to least specific

Gordon Gee

OSU presidents

university presidents

Connectors

Boolean

AND

OR

NOT

education AND computers

film OR cinema

Buckeyes NOT trees

Phrases

“paris hilton” paris hilton (AND is usually assumed)

Limits

Language

English

en Español

Date

1899

1861

2007

Publication Type

Book

Newspaper

Scholarly ArticleMovie

Limits in Google

Limits in an article database

Limits in a library catalog

Let’s TryUsing These Strategies