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Higher Degree Research (Faculty of Business, Justice, Behavioural Sciences): Developing a Search Strategy

A guide to support Higher Degree Research candidates with preparation of Research Proposal and Draft Literature Review for RES701, RES702 and RES703

Common Search Tips

There are a number of techniques you can use while searching to get better and more relevant results.

Remember: you will need to try a range of searches. Don't stop after just one.

To understand how search operators work check out:

Formulating search strings

Search operators can be combined to create a more sophisticated and controlled search strategy. Combining strategies together is called a search string you can see more examples in the following table.

Search Strategy Operators
coastal AND erosion Boolean
"climate change" AND surface AND corrosion Boolean, phrase
(sea wall OR seawall) AND corrosion Boolean, Grouping
"climate change" AND coast* AND (sea wall OR seawall) Boolean, Grouping, Truncation, phrase

Proximity searching

A proximity search forces a database to find results where one search term appears within a certain number of words of another search term. The proximity operator varies according to the database. 

Examples from an EBSCOhost database:  

employability N3 higher education (N=near) This will find results where employability is within 3 words of higher education in any order.

employability W3 higher education (W=within) This will find results where employability is within 3 words of higher education in the order in which you entered the search terms.

Where to use these search techniques

You can use these strategies in the basic and advanced search boxes in Primo Search and other Library databases. 

  Boolean Truncation Wildcards Phrases Proximity Groups
Google  Yes* NO Yes* YES Yes* YES
Google Scholar Yes* NO Yes* YES Yes* YES
Primo Search YES YES YES YES NO YES
Journal Databases YES YES YES YES YES YES
Yes* = yes it does this but it works differently. The search techniques accepted by each journal database can vary; if in doubt, check a database's help section.

 

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