Advanced Search Lab - Activity

Introduction | Prep | Activity

Spot the difference (15 minutes)

Consider the sets of search queries below. Two queries will return almost identical results, and the third will give you a different results set. Which is the odd one out?

1. Ethics of cloning
   1. (ethics AND cloning) OR (ethics AND "reproductive techniques")
   2. ethics AND (cloning OR "reproductive techniques")
   3. (ethics OR cloning) AND "reproductive techniques"

   Answer: 1C

2. Studies of women and gender
   1. (wom?n OR gender) AND studies
   2. (wom?n OR gender AND studies
   3. (women OR woman OR gender) AND studies

   Answer: 2B

3. Political financing
   1. poli* AND financ*
   2. (politics OR political OR politician) AND financ*
   3. polit* AND (finance OR financial OR financing)

   Answer: 3A

4. Life Studies, by Robert Lowell
   1. Life studies au:lowell
   2. au:lowell ti:life studies
   3. allintitle:life studies author:lowell

   Answer: 4A

Why are we asking such detailed questions?

Advanced search can be unforgiving.

It’s important to confirm that you know how to construct the syntax, because one misplaced search operator might give you results that are very different from what you intend.

But advanced searching is also laborious. You will not construct complex searches every time. No one uses these tools every time they search, not even librarians.

When will I ever use this?

There are specific situations where a well-constructed search is worth the effort:

• When you are searching many possible synonyms and want to save time
• When you need to feel confident that you are doing a truly comprehensive search
• When you’re troubleshooting messy or irrelevant results

Make search operators work for you (10 minutes)

Find efficiencies

• Think about search terms you use for the same concept: are you doing a separate search for each one?
• Can you use search operators to combine these searches into a single query? Which operators work best?
• What’s helpful about getting all the results at once? When is it more helpful to search each term separately?

Practice finding the search operator documentation

• Locate the search documentation for your library catalog and confirm that you’re writing the search syntax correctly.
• Locate the search documentation for a different database, or compare these examples of advanced search:
  • FOIA Reading Room Links to an external site.
  • JSTOR Links to an external site.
  • Google Links to an external site.
  • Worldcat.org Links to an external site.

You have completed Advanced Search Lab. Explore more modules.

Introduction | Prep | Activity