Searching | Evaluation | Ethical Use

Locating Resources on the Web

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Tip #7 If at first you don't succeed, refine your search strategy

Successful searching is a process. If you are seeking complex information, rather than simple facts, searching will be a multi-step process.

Where and how will you look?

When using a Search Engine, you select a specific engine, formulate and submit a query, and analyze the results. If you don't find what you seek, you reconsider your search terms or search engine and try again.

When using human edited Subject Index, you select a beginning subject category, and explore one or more sub-categories. Each step involves a decision. If you don't find what you seek, you retrace your steps and try a new approach.

Online Learning Module: Search Engines
Online Learning Module: Subject Indexes

How do I refine my search?

Rethinking your steps while searching is called "refining" your search strategy. Refining a search is like the game called Twenty Questions. Each time you ask a question and get a response, you eliminate possibilities and narrow your search for the correct answer. Each time you take a new step in the search process, you get new responses that may help you find your way to the information you are seeking.

As an introduction to refining your strategy 'on the go,' consider the

Online Learning Module: Search Box Strategy

First steps in refining a search:

  • Alter the specific steps you are taking (Tactics)
  • Try a new step based on the results of the previous step
  • Systematically search the most highly ranked links
  • Search more deeply in a particular site by using the sitemap or truncating the URL
  • Limit your search to the most promising domain (e.g., .edu, .net, .com)
Online Learning Module: Sitemaps: What are they and how do they work?
Online Learning Module: URLs: How do URLs Work?

  • Alter your search query (the terms and operators you use)
    • Adding, deleting, or substituting keywords or operators to get better results
    Using the plus ( + ) operator to demand terms be included in the search results
    Using the minus ( - ) operator to demand terms be excluded from the search results
    Using quotation ( " " ) marks to request the entire phrase, not just one of the words in the phrase
Online Learning Module: What is a Query?
Online Learning Module: Operators

If your search is going nowhere:

  • Rethink or refine your main concept by looking in a human edited Subject Index
  • If you can't find what you are looking for with a Search Engine consider the Invisible Web
  • If you can't find what you're looking for in a newspaper database, try searching a magazine database
  • Should you even be using the Internet? Are traditional resources better?
Online Learning Module: Search Box Strategy or Search Process
Online Learning Module: Search Engines
Online Learning Module: Subject Indexes
Online Learning Module: Invisible Web: How Can You Search It?
Online Learning Module: Traditional Sources