Make your search time shorter -
some ideas for searching "efficiently and
effectively"
Searching for information can be considerably more
successful
if you use a few simple techniques.
In addition to the free internet sites, there are many commercial
sources of information, known as Databases, which act as an index to
sources such as academic articles, library catalogues, patents,
research reports, trade information.
Such Databases may
look very different on the screen but some basic search techniques are
common to all.
What is searched?
Usually, individual words from the title, author's name,
subject
terms (also known as descriptors).
The computer program will
search for the pattern of letters requested.
This may be a whole word
or the beginning of a word with a 'truncation' symbol a the end.
The truncation
symbol in most databases is the star * also known as an
asterisk.
Exceptions
are the Library Catalogue and the Avery
Index to Architectural Periodicals, where the question
mark ? is the
truncation symbol.
eg- architect*
will find architectural,
architects, architecture, architectures, as
well
as architect.
How does the system combine terms?
Individual terms (or words)
are found and compared with other terms
you have selected,
according to the "commands" you give using the words
AND, OR, NOT .
Creating a "Search strategy"
Imagine which words an author might use in the title of an article that
would interest you.
These words should be in your search strategy!
If you need some ideas to help you think of
terms to describe your topic,
- use specialist dictionaries for
terminology used in aspects of architecture
- use encyclopaedias or handbooks for
background information
- in the Library Catalogue records,
look
at words in the Subject
headings:,
Contents:, or Notes:.
Put the words you have thought of in a list in a column, eg
urban
city
town
This is an easy way to see the alternative
words for a concept, so create a column for the words which could be
used for each concept, eg.
urban
planning
landscape*
architectur*
city
design
garden*
design*
town
site
park
style
regional
renewal
environs
plan
suburb*
form
courtyard
art
To tell the computer system that you want any one of the words in a
column, type the words in a
string with OR
between each word.
Put
round brackets around the string of words to indicate that you want one
answer for this 'set' of words,
eg.
(urban OR city OR
town* OR
regional OR
suburb*)
Remember that the star * or
asterisk is the 'truncation' symbol, enabling you to find records which
have different endings for your search word.
| NOTE - The Library Catalogue and the Avery Index are
different, using the question
mark ?
for truncation. |
As you only want to see the records which include both the concepts,
you need
to type the second column of words in the same way, eg.
(planning OR design* OR
site OR
renewal OR
form*)
Then separate these sets of words
with the AND
operator to tell the system to find every record which has one of the
words you require from each set, eg.
(urban OR city OR town* OR
regional OR
suburb*)
AND
(planning OR
design* OR
site OR
renewal OR
form*)
for another example -
(landscape OR
garden* OR
park OR
environs OR
courtyard) AND
(architectur* OR
design* OR
style OR
plan OR
art)
Check your search strategy, make sure it says what you mean!
Dealing with the Results
The results of your search are presented in a "brief format" which
gives the author' name, the title and an indication of where to find
the full article.
For more information including a summary (abstract) and subject
descriptors, look for a link from the title or a specific button, such
as
VIEW in the RIBA
Library Online Catalogue.
This example from the Academic
Search Premier database is typical of a "brief record"
Designing garden city landscapes:
Works
by Marjorie L. Sewell Cautley, 1922--1937. By: Way,
Thaisa.
Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes,
Oct-Dec2005, Vol. 25 Issue 4,
p297-316, 20p; (AN
19955590)
Some databases, including the Avery
Index to Architectural Periodicals and the RIBA Library Online Catalogue
include material that is not in English, so the brief record should
indicate the language of the article, as in this example from the Avery
Index to Architectural Periodicals
-
Finding the text of the article
When the Library has access to the full text of a journal in electronic
format, many databases can
recognise this and provide links to the full text. Look for the
blue box labelled 
Unfortunately this does not apply to the RIBA
Library Online Catalogue
Where no electronic link is provided, search the Library Catalogue
under the title of the journal where the article was published, to see
if
we have got the journal in the Library.
The results of your initial
search may be disappointing but don't give
up!
Look at some of the records for ideas for other words that
you
could use to improve your search strategy.
Look for other ways to make your search strategy better describe
your
topic
Other
search words?
- as you look at your results you may
get "better" ideas for search words.
Different spelling?
- some of the words may have different
spellings while some may need both
singular and plural; consider using the truncation symbol in these
cases.
Recent articles only?
- look for a way to restrict the search
result to a date.
Many databases provide a way of specifying a date range.
Search terms closer together?
- restrict the search to a field
such as title or subject headings
(descriptors)
- use inverted
commas around terms to indicate a phrase
Need
more results?
- remove some of your search words to
get more results
Which database?
for all aspects of architecture, landscape architecture and urban
design try
Avery
index click
here for search notes
or
RIBA
Library Online Catalogue click here for search notes
for Australian issues try
for comment from Australian newspapers try
Australia/New
Zealand reference centre - indexes articles and
newspapers from
Australia and New Zealand. click
here for search notes
ElectricLibrary
- includes full text of major Australian newspapers, some general
encyclopedias
and journals. click
here for search notes
Factiva - a huge international news database; includes full
text of
many
Australian newspapers. click
here for search notes
for an international perspective, try multidisciplinary indexes
and databases
Academic
Search Premier 1985- click
here for search notes
EAI:
Expanded Academic Index 1980- click
here for search notes
PCI
Full Text (Periodicals contents index)
1770-1995. click
here for search notes
Web
of Science 1980- click
here for search notes
Many of these databases now include links to the full text for most of
the articles
indexed.
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