Developing a Search Statement

When you search a computer database, it is important to think about how your search terms will be interpreted by the computer. Your search can consist of single words or phrases, or you can combine terms.  Single term searches are usually no problem, but if you are searching for a combination of terms, such as in the examples below, it is important to combine those terms effectively.  To combine terms effectively in a computer database search, use the "operators" and and or.  Here are some examples.

Example 1:

Topic: Does television violence have a negative effect on preschool age children?
Key concepts: television, violence, preschool children
Synonyms and alternate terms: TV, kindergarten, nursery school, toddlers

• In the example above, you want to find only that information which includes television and violence and preschool children.  If there is information on television and violence which doesn’t include preschool children, you probably don’t want it.  So you want to limit your search to only the information which includes all three of your concepts.  AND retrieves only those records in which all search terms are present.  Use AND to connect the key concepts:

television and violence and preschool children
 
• On the other hand, you want the results above to include either television or TV, either preschool children or kindergarten or nursery school or toddlers.  So you want to expand those segments of your search to include the concepts as well as their alternates.  OR retrieves all records containing one or more of the search terms.  Use OR to connect synonyms and alternative terms:

television or TV
preschool children or kindergarten or nursery school or toddlers
 
• When you have alternate terms from the same base word (such as child, children) you can use truncation as a shorthand for OR.  Truncation allows you to use just the base word (child), followed by a symbol the database recognizes, to search for variations on the word.  For example, child* would find child, child's, childlike, children, and children's.  NOTE:  It is very important to realize that each database system has its own truncation symbol: for example, Ovid databases use $, Lexis-Nexis uses !, many web search engines use *.  Ask a librarian or use the "help" files for the individual database to determine the correct truncation symbol.

 
• You can create fairly complex search statements using several "operators" combined with appropriate use of parentheses. To combine all your terms in a single search statement for the computer, it is important to use parentheses to indicate which parts of the search should be done first.  Here’s how our example might look:

(television or TV) and violen* and (preschool child* or kindergarten or nursery school or toddler*)

If your search retrieves too few results, think about dropping one of the key concepts from the search statement:  if you don't find enough searching for "television and violence and children," try searching for the two primary concepts of your research focus: television and children.

Another approach when you find too few results would be to look for synonyms and alternate terms for some of your key concepts; for example, you might use "movies" or "music" as alternate terms for "television" since all three are media.  Your search statement would become (television or movies or music) and violence and children. Example 2: Topic: Fashion trends reflect the state of the economy
Key concepts: fashion, economy, history
Synonyms and alternate terms: style, fashionable, economics

Here are some search statements that might be developed for the example above.

(fashion* or style) and econom*

fashion* and history and econom*

(fashion* or style) and history and econom*

Topic: Chicago's urban architecture represents the best of many different styles and periods.
Key concepts: Chicago, architecture, urban
Synonyms or alternate terms: buildings, city

Here are some search statements that might be developed for the example above.

Chicago and urban architecture

(Chicago or city or urban) and (architecture or building*)

Chicago and (Frank Lloyd Wright or Mies van der Rohe)
Chicago and skyscraper

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