Thinking About & Developing a Search Strategy

http://library.uwsuper.edu/guides/infoliteracy/searchstrategy.html

Get Organized	What is your assignment / task? What interests you? How much time do you have for thinking, searching, reading, interlibrary loan, writing, and revising? Pick your general topic
Gather Background Information	Find enough information about your topic to enable you to specify your topic with a "WHY" question that will give your research focus and direction. Review your class notes and your textbook for information pertaining to your topic Identify and get information from Professional Associations and Government Agencies that may work with information related to your topic To Do: Search the library's Associations Unlimited to identify appropriate associations, then look for their web sites or search the library's catalog for their publications. Find books and reference resources related to your topic To Do: Browse call numbers broadly related to your topic in the REFERENCE section of the library To Do: Use the library's catalog to search for books that might contain a chapter or section on your topic (do not limit your search to books that are specifically on your topic...think broadly!)
Focus	Talk to your professor, a writing center staff member, and/or one of the reference librarians about what you think your "WHY" question will be. We can all help you to identify any potential problems with your research question based on our specialty areas. Come up with explanations or hypotheses to answer your question. Write your topic, research question, and your hypotheses on a piece of paper.
Formulate a Search Plan	Prepare to search for information To Do: Break your topic, research question, and hypotheses into discrete concepts or components To Do: Think of synonyms for each of your concepts. Use a thesaurus if you need help. Connect your terms with the appropriate Boolean operators (AND, OR) to appropriately limit your search. To Do: Identify the types of information you will need to have in order to answer your WHY question or prove/disprove your hypotheses. Ask the Reference Librarians for help!
Search!	Books To Do: Search the library's catalog for books. To Do: Search WorldCat to identify and obtain (through interlibrary loan) books owned by other libraries. Ask the Reference Librarians for help! Articles from Journals and Newspapers To Do:Select and search appropriate database/index. The library's subject guides may help you to select a good index, and the Reference Librarians are glad to help! To Do:Obtain paper or fulltext electronic articles by using the library's list of journals owned. To Do:Use interlibrary loan to obtain articles not available through the library. To Do:Ask the Reference Librarians for help with searching! Statistics To Do: Search Lexis Nexis Statistical Universe online. To Do: Ask a librarian to recommend other statistical resources that may be available in the library or on the web. Government Publications To Do: Check to see which Government Agencies are responsible in the area of your topic and search appropriately. To Do: Ask the Reference Librarians for help! Internet Resources To Do: Use the Library's subject guides to identify reccommended sites. To Do: Use general Internet search engines and directories, BUT... To Do: Make sure to assess the quality of the information you find. The Internet doesn't have an editor and the information you find there may be riddled with problems and errors. To Do: Ask the Reference Librarians for help!
Evaluate!	All information is not equal. Publishers differ in quality, not all journals are peer reviewed, and the internet has no editor. Assess the quality of everything!
Tips	Research is not easy. It takes time and creative thought. Be prepared to reformulate your topic based on the information you are finding (or not finding). Keep track of your search process...what have you looked in and how? Utilize community resources that are at your disposal. Local agencies and government offices have a great deal of information to offer. Professional Associations and Societies related to your topic are excellent places to look for information. Sometimes going straight to the source (the author, the company, the newspaper) is the best way (or only way) to get the information you need. If you are not finding what you need, ask the Reference Librarians or your Professor for help.