1. CRICOS No. 00213J
Developing an effective
Search Strategy

2. CRICOS No. 00213J
Why is a search strategy
[Plan] important?
• There is a lot of information out there
• It will help us identify what we need to
look for
•It will help you formulate clinical
questions form a case study
• It will help us to search more effectively
• It will save us time!

3. CRICOS No. 00213J
You are required to adopt a position on the following statement (agree or
disagree/take a side)
The statement :
Nurses need to be clever (knowledgeable) to care
 State whether you agree or disagree with the statement .
 Construct an argument to support your position.
 Justifying and support your position with contemporary evidence from a
variety of relevant information sources such as journal articles and textbooks.
Part 1:
What do I need and How do I find it?
Example Topic:

4. CRICOS No. 00213J
For your chosen topic :
(1) Identify the
 directive words
 any limiting words
 main concepts
(2) Think of alternative words for each
main concept

5. CRICOS No. 00213J
Directive words – What kind of assignment is this?
An analysis?
An argument?
A discussion?
A comparison?
Main Concepts – Identify what this assignment
is really about.
Three maybe four concepts/words.

6. CRICOS No. 00213J
You are required to adopt a position on the following statement (agree or
disagree/take a side)
The statement :
Nurses need to be clever (knowledgeable) to care
 State whether you agree or disagree with the statement .
 Construct an argument to support your position.
 Justifying and support your position with contemporary evidence from a
variety of relevant information sources such as journal articles and
textbooks.
Directive
word
Main Concepts
Example Topic:

7. CRICOS No. 00213J
Thinking of alternate words
or synonyms for your main
concepts is very important!
Example: Peripheral Arterial disease.
Also referred to as: Peripheral Vascular disease or PAD or PVD or peripheral artery
occlusive disease or PAOD.
Example: Panadol
Panadol is the Trade name but not the Drug name. Paracetamol is the drug name
in Australian and the UK. Acetaminophen is the drug name in the U.S.
Get help with this from general resources such as a Nursing Dictionary
or a subject textbook. This will ensure that you find all the synonyms
or variations and that you understand each concept thoroughly.

8. CRICOS No. 00213J
Example Topic:
We thought of alternative words,
synonyms, alternate spellings +
related terms using a thesaurus,
Nursing dictionary and the Unit
Textbook.
Nurse Nursing, Nurses
Clever science, knowledgeable, educated,
competent, technical
Care art, caring, holistic, compassionate,
empathetic,
Concept 1
Concept 2
Concept 3

9. CRICOS No. 00213J
Constructing a Search Strategy using Boolean
Operators and your key concepts:
Operator OR broadens a search
Nurses
200
records
Nursing
300
records
OR
500
records
Operator AND narrows a search
Clever
1000
records
Nurses
200
records
AND
100
records

10. CRICOS No. 00213J
Nurse Nursing Nurses
Clever science knowledge
competent OR educated OR technical
Care art caring holistic OR
compassionate OR empathetic
Search strategy for example topic:
OR
OR OROR
OROR
OR OR
AND
AND
Concept 1
Concept 2
Concept 3
Remember, you don’t have to use all your terms at the same
time!

11. CRICOS No. 00213J
Searching tools
As well as Boolean ‘AND’ and ‘OR’…
Phrase Searching
Use “inverted commas” or “quotation marks” around phrases. For eg “peripheral arterial disease”,
“eating disorders”, “higher education”.
Truncation
Try truncating a term to broaden your search results. The truncation symbol is usually the asterisk
For eg nurs* , will retrieve the terms nurse, nurses, nursing , etc
For eg, aggress* , will retrieve the terms aggressive, aggression, etc

12. CRICOS No. 00213J
Library
CRICOS No.00213J
Division of Technology Information and Learning Support
Where can I use this
strategy?
Library Catalogue
Books, videos, DVDs, kits
Internet searching
Obscure topics, Government +
organisational reports,
company information
Library Databases
Newspaper + journal articles,
conference papers, theses
Slide 14