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PSY424/436 Research guide: Develop a search strategy

What is a search strategy?

A search strategy is a well thought out plan about how to search for relevant information. Using information sources in a consistent, structured manner will save you time. As your searching progresses and your searches are refined, your search history can be extremely useful.  It can also improve the relevancy of results obtained, as you reflect on your keywords and synonyms and how these relate to each other.

To develop a search strategy you will need to:

  • define and write down your research question - what is it that you are going to research?
  • identify key words, terms and phrases - concept/mind maps can help tease out themes and keywords
  • identify keyword synonyms
  • determine a timeframe from your research, if needed
  • consider what type material you will include and why
  • identify where you will search for the information

Keeping a record of your search activity

A search methodology could ideally include a search diary or document detailing your search so that you can keep track of effective search terms, or someone else can reproduce your steps and get the same results.

Keep a record of your search strategies, the sources searched and search results from each.

Include:

  • The names of the sources you search and which provider you accessed them through - eg Medline (Ovid), Web of Science (Thomson Reuters). You should also include any other literature sources you used.
  • The search strategies that you applied when searching different sources (eg Medline, Web of Science) can be added as an appendix to your document. This provides additional detail on:
    • how you searched (keyword and/or subject headings)
    • which search terms you used (which words and phrases)
    • any search techniques you employed (truncation, adjacency, etc)
    • how you combined your search terms (AND/OR).  Watch this video for more tips on Boolean Searching.
  • The number of search results from each source and each strategy used.  This can be the evidence you need to prove a gap in the literature, and confirms the importance of your research question.

Keep a record of significant/important aspects of papers that you have read, making sure you note the article from where the information came so that you can easily find it when you are writing up your dissertation.

Further reading

Miller, R. L. & Brewer, J. (2003). The A-Z of Social Research : SAGE Publications Ltd doi: 10.4135/9780857020024

Phelps, R., Fisher, K. & Ellis, A. (2007). Effective literature searching. In Organizing and managing your research (pp. 128-149). : SAGE Publications Ltd doi: 10.4135/9781849209540.n7

 

From research question to search strategy

Literature search cycle

Diagram illustrating the literature search cycle. A circle in quarters. Top left quarter is identify main concepts with rectangle describing how to do this by identifying controlled vocabulary terms, synonyms, keywords and spelling. Top right quarter select library resources to search and rectangle describing resources to search library catalogue relevant journal articles and other resource. Bottom right corner of circle search resources and in rectangle consider using boolean searching proximity searching and truncated searching techniques. Bottom left quarter of circle review and refine results. In rectangle evaluate results, rethink keywords and create alerts.

Different search strategies

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