Research Strategies

WEB SEARCH RULES OF THUMB

• Keep it simple

• Less is more

• Ignore Punctuation 

• Use web-friendly words (my head hurts vs. headache)

• Use quotes (" ") for exact phrases. But quote wisely! A search of "Alexander Bell" will exclude pages with Alexander G. Bell.

• Use unique words; the more unique, the more relevant the results

• Don't worry about cases (ex. manhattan)

• Put quotation marks around "the" and "and" when they are included in a title or are essential; otherwise google will leave them out

• Use the ~ for "like term" (ex. ~flood will search floods, flooded, flooding)

• Use - when you do not want to include something (ex. "Hurricane Sandy" -flood)

DATABASE SEARCH RULES OF THUMB

• Keep it simple; learn to pay attention to subject headings

• Use EBSCO Discovery most; it is your best friend

• Know where the databases are located on the library website; use the Remote Access usernames and passwords when you are doing research off campus

• Use left navigation to limit results to: full-text, peer reviewed, periodical, or other types of media. Know what these terms mean!

• Adjust searches as you learn more