4 Search strategies
Learning Outcomes
- maximise search results for assessment tasks
- use keywords and synonyms within your search strategy
- understand Boolean operators and use them in searches
- apply search techniques (truncation, phrase searching and wildcards)
- combine keywords, synonyms, Boolean operators, truncation, phrase searching and wildcards to create a search string
- apply common search filters and limiters to your search results
The Research Process
Effective research requires analysing the assessment question, identifying keywords and synonyms, and crafting a workable, relevant search string for library catalogues and databases.
Research generally follows the same basic process to get started. Sometimes you will need to modify and repeat some steps to ensure everything is working effectively.
The following resource outlines the steps in the research process.
Analyse your assessment topic
As a starting point, look to your unit materials for information relevant to your assessment task. Remember that each assessment is testing your understanding of, and ability to apply the concepts and key information from your unit content to address your task criteria. For this reason, it is important to start by ensuring you clearly understand the concepts as they are presented in your unit.
Keywords and synonyms
Identifying keywords and related synonyms (similar words) for each of your concepts or themes will ensure that your search retrieves as many relevant results as possible as different authors and researchers will use varying terminology within the same research area.
- identify the main concepts (keywords)
- determine alternative terms (synonyms) to capture how others might describe the same concept
- consider possible word variations.
Example research question
What is the impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) on the nursing industry?
| Concept 1 | Concept 2 | Concept 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Generative artificial intelligence | Nursing | Impact |
Finding alternative terms
Identify other keywords by:
- reviewing abstract, keywords, subject headings, and text in relevant publications
- consulting dictionaries and encyclopaedias.
| Concepts | Generative artificial intelligence | Nursing | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synonyms | GenAI | Nurse | Effect |
| GAI | Nursing industry | Influence | |
| Generative AI | Nursing practice | Outcome | |
| Generative AI models | Nursing care | Consequence | |
| Chatgpt | Result |
Boolean operators
Boolean operators connect keywords and synonyms together to create a search string. We can refer to these as our ‘connecting’ words. When creating a search string, it is recommended to capitalise these connecting words, to ensure the catalogue recognises them as a Boolean operator and does not search for them as a keyword.
The Boolean Machine provides a visual demonstration of how Boolean works.
AND, OR, NOT connecting words
Boolean operators can link your search terms/words together and affect the number of results you retrieve.
GenAI Tip
Boost your research with GenAI! Ask tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini or Claude to break down your research question, suggest synonyms or even build a search strategy with Boolean operators. Make sure you check all outputs for quality and accuracy.
You may find these prompts useful to:
- find key concepts: “What are the key concepts in the following research question? [Enter your research question]”
- expand your search: “Suggest three alternative terms or synonyms for each concept listed”
- build a search string: “Create a search string for use in a library catalogue and academic databases. Include Boolean operators and synonyms”
Find more tips on crafting GenAI prompts in the prompt engineering section of our GenAI Library guide.
Phrase searching
Phrase searching searches for a phrase rather than individual words. Place quotation marks ” ” around the phrase to ensure only the words in the phrase are searched in the intended order.
“community forest management”
“coronary disease”
Caution: don’t use full sentences within quotation marks, e.g. “the effects of pest disease on banana plantations”. This is not effective and will generate little if any results.
Truncation
Truncation searches for different forms of a word simultaneously. Replace the end of the word with * (or !, ? depending on the database).
therap* will retrieve therapy, therapies, therapeutic etc
Caution: don’t use the symbol too early e.g. photo* will bring back photons, photography and photosynthesis.
Wildcards
Wildcard symbols represent one or more characters within a word. Use the hashtag # or ? symbol to search for variations of the spelling of a word.
colo#r will retrieve either colour or color
organi?ation will retrieve either organisation or organization
Caution: each database will use a specific variation, e.g. # is only used in the EBSCOhost database and ? is used in the ProQuest database. You can usually check within the database which variation it uses.
Proximity searching
Proximity searching searches terms within or near other terms.
The Within “W” operator finds terms in the order in which they are entered.
education W5 “special needs” finds the word education within 5 words before “special needs”
The Near “N” operator finds terms nearby in any order.
education N5 “special needs” finds the word education within 5 words before or after “special needs”
Nesting
Nesting structures your search using one or more Boolean operator. Different databases prioritise the order in which they read Boolean operators. It is best to use parentheses, i.e. ( ), to structure your search.
depression AND (teenager OR teen OR adolescent OR youth OR “young adult”)
The terms and operations that occur inside the parentheses will be searched first, therefore will find documents that contain one of the words in brackets but only if they also contain the word ‘depression’.
Example search string
(“generative artificial intelligence” OR “gen ai” OR “generative ai” OR ChatGPT) AND (nurs* OR “nursing care” OR “nursing practice”) AND (impact OR effect OR influence OR outcome OR result OR consequence)
Have a go at creating your own search strategy with the SCU search strategy builder. You can copy and paste your search string into the library catalogue or databases to search for peer-reviewed journal articles.
Find the operators and variations used by common databases in Monash University’s useful guide on how to translate your search across databases.
Refining Your Search
Using the limiters in the library catalogue or databases can help narrow your results to the most relevant sources. Some common limiters include:
- date
- full text availability
- scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals
- document/resource type
- country.
Specialised subject databases often offer additional limiters. For example, medical databases might include clinical query filters. Always check what options are available in each database to ensure you’re conducting the best search possible.
Important: Be careful not to refine your search too much. Overusing limiters can result in too few (or even zero) results. If this happens, try removing some limiters and broaden your search again. The best approach is to start broad and gradually narrow down your search as you find more relevant sources.
