1. Introduction

Finding things consists of applying a search strategy to a resource. However not all resources permit all types of search strategies (e.g. you cannot usually do a keyword search through the whole of a book).

Resources

The resources available to information searchers (that means you!) are constantly changing but can be roughly divided into 3 areas:

• The Library
  - books, journals, CD-ROMs, videos, audio tapes, newspapers
• The Internet
  - online databases (e.g. BIDS), World Wide Web, News Groups, FAQs, Mailing Lists
• People
  - subject librarians, lecturers, other students

Search Strategies

The most common strategies are listed below - however they are usually used in combinations rather than individually:

• keyword searching
  - I want documents about the Spanish Civil War
• person-based searching
  - has John Hughes written any other books?
• institution-based searching
  - has the Centre for Policy Studies published anything recently?
• publication-based searching
  - what else has been published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning?
• citation searching
  - who has referenced this journal article?
• similarity searching - making use of other people's searches
  - has someone else done this before? did they save it anywhere I can see?