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Basic Search Techniques: Concepts

organizing and executing a search for information

Organizing Concepts

  • Make a list of all of the words that describe the topic.
    Stuck for terms? Try Carrot2, a "clustering" search engine that categorizes results and gives alternatives.
  • Arrange the words in groups (A, B, C, etc.).
  • Search for the individual words for each group and combine into one group with "OR."
  • Combine the groups with "AND."
  • The intersection of the sets should be "the answer."

Venn Diagram

venn diagram