Download Doing Keyword Searches



Lynn W Zimmerman, PhD
 The
process of searching electronically
stored information to locate, and identify
potentially useful articles and websites
o a specific word
o combination of words
 What
are the disadvantages of subject, title,
or author searches?
o Title and author – have to know what you are
looking for
o Subject - what terms have been entered into the
subject area of the record
A
Keyword search
o looks for words anywhere in the record
 Write
a list of key words and phrases about topic
 Example
o You want information on how to write a resume.
What happens if you type in the word: resume?
o What can you do?
o Narrow by typing ‘resume template’ or ‘resume and employment’
o
 Interested
in applying for a job in the US?
o Resume template American
o Resume template US
 Type
in the exact word or phrase that you want to
look for
o For the exact phrase, use “” to identify it as a set phrase
• lessons
• “lesson plans”
• “grammar lesson plans”
 Type
in a string of words related to the topic.
 Without “”, the search engine with look for the
words in any order and location
o Grammar lesson plans elementary EFL
 Finds
a group of words or phrases linked by and,
or, and not, w/# (within a range) and not w/#.
 Examples:
grammar lesson plans
grammar lessons and elementary EFL
grammar lessons or elementary EFL
grammar lessons and not secondary EFL
grammar w/5 EFL
grammar not w/27 secondary

Fuzzy search - Finds words even if misspelled
o A search for ‘grammar” would also find ‘grammer’ or ‘gramar’

Phonic search - Finds words that sound alike
o ‘pear’ in a search for ‘pair’

Synonym expansion - Finds word synonyms
o ‘grammar games’ may also give ‘grammar quizzes’, ‘grammar
puzzles’

Stemming - Finds grammatical variations on endings
o linguist, linguistic, linguistics
 What
is the topic you are thinking of for your
thesis?
o Think of 3 keywords, then think of 3 keyword
phrases
o Arrange your keyword phrases different ways
using the Boolean connectors