speculative searching
Three of the five major obstacles most searchers encounter involve speculation
What am I looking for?
If you don't know what you are looking for, you may never find it. You stand a much better chance if you can identify several keywords that focus the question. Keywords are the biggest step for turning a question into a query. Search engines use queries to retrieve information from a database. If you can condense your search into a few good keywords, you can make good use of a search engine. For an easy search, finding the right keywords is typically not an issue. The problem arises when you have a question that is more complicated, such as the typical research assignment. Then you must know strategies to find better keywords along the way, because the odds are against you that you will know the right words to start with.Where will I find it?
Unless you are a librarian, you probably have one search engine you turn to for just about everything. Whether it's Google, Yahoo, Bing or one of the other popular choices, a single search engine is limited to the contents of its database. For research-type topics, specialized search engines have high quality, relevant resources. This is also true when it comes to investigative searching: looking up publisher information, archived versions of a Web page and so on. There are many places to look and unless you can learn how to use an unfamiliar search engine, there will be problems.How will I get there?
After the choice of which search engine to use (or if you need a search engine at all) comes the challenge of homing in on the information you need. There isn't a map to tell you if you are on the right track or getting close. The only way to tell if you are getting close is by looking for clues in the information you are finding along the way. This step involves looking at results and finding better keywords, browsing effectively and reading results to see if they are relevant.