Planning a Search
In my first search in Lesson 1, I entered only a few key terms to determine likely news databases.
Identifying alternative search terms for our topic is very important to achieving comprehensive search results. We need to think about the terms and appropriate synonyms we should use to request information from the Dialog system before going online.
For example, articles might contain different spelling of words, such as PlayStation 2 or PS2. We can also add the new information about Xbox from Brian's latest note.
Step 1: Selecting Additional Search Terms
Terms I might use to find information about PlayStation 2, sales statistics, along with the product Xbox, could include:
| Concept 1 | Concept 2 | Concept 3 | Concept 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| playstation2 | xbox | competition | sales |
| playstation 2 | x-box | statistics | |
| ps2 |
Notice that I also put all of the synonyms for the concept "PlayStation 2" in the same column. This helps me keep the terms straight when I create my search strategy.
Go to the next page to see additional modifications to the search strategy.
