Successful online information searches result from a combination of factors: matching the right online resource to the search topic; the searcher’s previous experience; knowledge of the subject; getting good advice from a librarian. Add to these the importance of choosing the appropriate search terms. The challenge, especially for students, is that it’s difficult to know the full range of terms used to describe any single topic. Choose the wrong term or exclude an important one from the search, and the results can be a vast misrepresentation of actual content on the topic.

In a recent column, web content consultant Gerry McGovern provided some interesting information from communications expert Frank Luntz. Luntz points out that as we modernize as a culture, some of our terms go out of fashion. Using the older terms can result in missing important, timelier information. For example, consider these words that have been replaced by newer ones:

WAS: Used car — IS NOW: Pre-owned vehicle
WAS: Secretary — IS NOW: Administrative assistant
WAS: Housewife — IS NOW: Stay-at-home-mom
WAS: Stewardess — IS NOW: Flight attendant
WAS: Waiter/Waitress — IS NOW: Server

McGovern adds some interesting data to make a point about how we choose our search terms. He writes:

According to Overture, in December 2006, 730,958 people searched for “used car,” while only 949 searched for “pre-owned vehicle.” Nearly 73,000 people searched for “housewife” (122,000 searched for “desperate housewife”), while only 43 searched for stay-at-home-mom. Over 30,000 searched for “gay marriage” while 19,000 searched for “same-sex marriage” (and what about “civil union”).

From the librarian’s perspective, this would reinforce that effective search results, whether you are using an Internet search engine or a library database requires broad conceptualizing about the variant terms that may be used to describe any single search subject. Using an outdated term or missing an obvious synonymous term can have a huge impact on the outcome of one’s search results. So how can we help students to think about this when they do their online searching? Faculty could do any or all of the following:

+ Demonstrate searches in class that illustrate creative thinking about developing search strategies.
+ Invite a librarian to your class to hold a mini-workshop on creating effective search strategies.
+ Integrate a search strategy development activity into an assignment so that students have an opportunity to share their search terms before they start researching an assignment.
+ Show students how to review their search results in a way that points out how alternate or synonymous terms can be found right in articles they are retrieving.

The Temple University Libraries’ librarians are full of great ideas about how students can be helped to become more effective researchers, and they are equally effective at helping both faculty and their students to develop the right techniques and tools to ensure that important learning outcomes are being achieved.

Steven J. Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services