Ask OASIS How to find more results
Video link: How to find more results
Begin Transcript
Visual: SocINDEX search page
Narration: Let’s see how many results are found when the entire topic is typed in a search box. I’ll type
teenage pregnancy prevention programs in the first search box and click search.
Visual: SocINDEX results page
Narration: Only 6 results were found, because there are very few articles that used the exact phrase I
typed in the box. If I break the topic into keywords I should find more results. So I’ll type teenage
pregnancy in the 1st search box and prevention in the 2nd box beneath the 1st.
Visual: SocINDEX results page with keywords in separate search boxes
Narration: Now when I click search I find 171 results instead of 6. This is what librarians are talking
about when they mention an effective keyword search strategy; separating keywords into separate
boxes and keeping one concept per box.
Visual: SocINDEX results page with keywords in separate search boxes and ‘pregnancy’ misspelled.
Narration: Note that mistyping a keyword can also result in zero results. If I left out the ‘g’ in pregnancy,
then there would be zero results found. Always double check for spelling accuracy.
Created August 2012 by Walden University Library