Broadening Your Search

• Do when your search resulted in Zero or very few relevant records.
• Techniques to broaden the search include:
  • Select different or add additional databases to search.
  • Use the or operator:
    • With additional related, alternative, or synonymous terms.
    • In more fields or in all of each record in the database.
  • Set the limiting numbers associated with proximity operators (w, n) to higher numbers.
  • Eliminate or minimize and or not operators that may be limiting your search too much.

Narrowing Your Search

• Do when your search resulted in too many records, many of which are irrelevant.
• Techniques to narrow the search include:
  • Select different satabases or reduce the number of databases to search.
  • Select more specific search terms.
  • Minimize the truncating of root words, select the only the most likely of terms.
    • Example:
      • Instead of truncating computer?, which would search for many words based on the root computer, enter computer? ? which would only find "computer" and "computers."
  • Combine appropriate terms by using and.
  • Eliminate additional, irrelevant terms through the use of not.
  • Set the limiting numbers associated with proximity operators (w, n) to lower (closer) numbers.
  • Eliminate or operators that may be overly expanding the results of your search.