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Learn to formulate efficient search strings for finding health information online. Understand the importance of spelling, truncation, Boolean operators, and choice of terms in conducting successful searches. Practice using appropriate search syntax to get accurate results. Enhance your search skills for better information retrieval.
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Formulating search strings Finding Online Health Information Workshop I Vietnam National Training Programme
Once we reach a resource, we want to do ’good’ searches Efficient : takes little time Effective: finds what you want
Good searches require good search strings • Spelling • Truncation • Boolean operators (AND/OR) • Choice of terms • Punctuation
Does system use American or British spelling? Are compound words hypenated, open, closed? anemia, anaemia HIV-AIDS, HIV/AIDS preeclampsia, pre-eclampsia Spelling
Does the system allow truncation? What is a reasonable stem? child* = child, child’s, children, children’s, childhood med* Truncation
Does the system support Boolean searches? What operators are recognized? Which one applies for this search? term operator term AND, OR, NOT, …. AND/OR is especially tricky Boolean operators
I want to find the references that are about either bananas or guavas I want to find the references that are about both bananas and guavas
OR AND NOT
Right level? In ’vocabulary’? Unnecessary? Malaria GBV, spousal abuse Impact of community-based programmes on malaria- conected deaths among children Choice of terms
Start with the search phrase impact of community-based projects on malaria-related deaths among children in Vietnam Remove unnecessary words (impact, based, related, among, Vietnam) community projects malaria deaths children Use truncation where appropriate communit* projects malaria child* deaths
Remove words that have too many alternatives (projects) communit* malaria child* deaths Identify major alternatives to essential terms communit* malaria child* death* mortality survival Write new search phrase with Boolean operators communit* AND malaria AND child* AND (death* OR survival OR mortality)
Punctuation (4 x 8) + 7 = 39 is not the same as 4 x (8 + 7) = 60
A AND B AND (C OR D) is not the same as (A AND B AND C) OR D
Should limits be used? What types of limits are available & appropriate? Size of ’hit list’ Year(s), language, full text availability, type of article, etc. Even with a good search string, you may also needs limits