The importance of planning a search

The importance of planning a search

Someone running a search on a database or search engine might sit at the 

computer, access a favourite database/search engine, type in a word and see 

what happens, with little or no prior thought given to the method of search-

ing. The consequence of this unplanned searching is that the searcher may 

stumble across some relevant references fairly quickly - or not. There may be 

innumerable hits, or very few, and what is retrieved may be irrelevant. Faced 

with this unsatisfactory result, the searcher will then enter an alternative 

search term which may produce similarly unsuccessful results to the first. This 

process may be repeated until either the searcher has gathered what they think 

is a reasonable list of records for the task in hand, or until they become so 

frustrated that they give up. 

Any suitable references resulting from this type of search are a result of luck rather than planning and, most importantly, 

the searcher may have missed key references. It could result in a piece of work presented with a large number of references, 

most of which are peripheral to the subject and omitting work by well known specialists in the field of study. 

Those undertaking any type of research need to find information efficiently. 

In the first instance of planning the research project, it is vital that researchers 

are fully aware of the work of others so that time is not wasted and work is not repeated  unwittingly:  expert  searching  

skills  will  aid  this  process.  When undertaking research for papers or books that are to be published or sent for peer 

review, it is important that references to relevant publications are not omitted and that the author demonstrates a 

complete knowledge of the current situation in their chosen field. 

Sadly the poor searching scenario such as the one above happens all too frequently. Kate Hodgson of CMS Cameron 

McKenna wrote of the searching techniques of legal trainees: 

Most trainees use such poor search strategies and techniques on both the 

web and commercial databases. Over 80% of searches carried out are for 

one single word. The concepts searched for are not thought-out, the key 

terms are not identified, relationships between key terms are not thought 

through, and Boolean logic might as well be a clue in a Vulcan crossword. 

(Hodgson 2002: 14) 

Poor search techniques are not only used by legal trainees. The JUSTEIS (JISC 

Usage Surveys: Trends in Electronic Information Services) project investigated 

the behaviour of end users of electronic information services. One finding was 

that 'postgraduates may be focused and persistent in their searching [of search 

engines] but do not necessarily employ cohesive strategies' (Armstrong et al. 

2000: sect. 6.3.3). The user behaviour section concludes that 'given the wide 

range of engines used and the haphazard nature of much of the searching, 

some thought might be given to ways of encouraging students to use the 

Internet more effectively'. These findings are applicable to search techniques 

using structured databases. Single word searching can be useful when using 

specific specialist terms or as part of a more complex search strategy where 

terms will be combined later, but searchers should not rely solely on this tech-

nique. In cases where the single search term is broad (for example, 'sociology' 

or 'perception'), the numbers of hits may be extremely high and therefore 

unmanageable. 

Having explained the problems associated with poor search techniques resulting from a lack of a systematic approach, the 

benefits of planning a search strategy should be noted. 

Planning a search strategy: 

•  Results in the retrieval of relevant references 

•  Avoids omitting key references 

•  Is more likely to retrieve a manageable number of results 

•  Uses time efficiently 

Searching using successful techniques can be time consuming. It is, however, far preferable to spend the time profitably, 

retrieving relevant results rather than wasting precious time gathering poor results. 

The searching process is both iterative and heuristic. It is a circular rather than a linear process. It can best be defined as 

being complete when the searcher retrieves records that they have already identified as of use and no new relevant records 

are thrown up. In some ways, the search can never be described as complete owing to the fact that additional terms and 

new information will be encountered as the research progresses. 

The search process comprises the following steps: 

•  PLAN: IDENTIFY the terms and FORMULATE the search strategy 

•  RUN the search 

•  RETRIEVE relevant results 

•  EVALUATE the results 

•  SAVE relevant results 

•  MODIFY and re-run the search 

all the time keeping records of the process (see Figure 6.1). 

What follows is a description of the process when searching online, but 

many of the techniques are also relevant when searching using print sources 

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