Principles of information search
Preparation for information search
Prior to starting a search, set aside important concepts of your subject and make a list of relevant words and expressions for each concept. These words and expressions may contain synonyms, words of wider or narrower meaning, related terms, etc.
| For example: How does the depiction of violence on TV influence aggressive behaviour of young people. |
Different aspects of this subject contain violence, television, young people.
| 1. concept | 2. concept | 3. concept |
| violence | television | young people |
| aggression | tv | child, children, childhood |
| teenager, teenagers, teens | ||
| youth | ||
| adolescent, adolescents, adolescence |
All these aspects have to be taken into account in building a search.
- Different spelling forms (organisation – organization),
- abbreviations (European Union – EU) and
- singular and plural noun forms
have to be considered as well.