2.1 Define your search terms


Identify and obtain information
	2.1 Define your search terms
	2.2 An example search strategy
	2.3 Search strategies
	2.4 Select an appropriate tool
	2.5 Keep up to date


	Glossary

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We looked at finding known items in 1.2.2 Locate your references. But how do you find unknown items, or information on a specific topic?

The most efficient way to begin is to analyse your topic by identifying the key concepts. We did this in 1.3 Map your ideas by developing a concept map.

It was identified in the concept map that, for this assignment, you need to research the following topic:

The social and economic impacts of gambling.

So, your key concepts are:

Concept 1	Concept 2	Concept 3	Concept 4
social	economic	impacts	gambling

Building a search term vocabulary

Once you've identified your key concepts, start to build your search term vocabulary.

Consider using alternative search terms including broader, narrower, related terms.

Consider	Example
synonyms	try, seek, test, attempt
acronyms	UC, University of Canberra
variations in spelling of terms	labour, labor
plurals	cactus, cacti
scientific and common names	phascolarctos cinereus, koala
terminology peculiar to a country	car (Australian), vehicle (U.S.)

This process will ensure you get the broadest possible coverage of the literature when you search. Alternative search terms may be found via your background reading, thesauri, and subject fields in search tools.

Generating alternative search terms

So alternative search terms for our topic may be:

Concept 1	Concept 2	Concept 3	Concept 4
social	economic	impacts impact	gambling gambling bet betting

Activity

How do you combine these terms together to form an effective search strategy?

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