Broader & Narrower Search Terms
Have you ever searched for a topic in a library database and gotten this?
Or maybe you've gotten this?
What do you do if you don't get enough results, or you get way too many? This is when you should think about searching for broader or narrower terms.
Here's an example:
If we start with the word "dog," that covers every type of dog on the planet (Google it--there's a lot!). But "small dog" narrows it down quite a bit. If we get more specific, we could pick a breed like "corgi." But if we zoom back out to "dog," a larger concept would be "pet."
In this example we would say that "pet" is a broader term than "dog." That is, the idea of "pets" includes "dogs" but it also includes many other things. Or we could say that "dog" is a narrower term "pet" because it refers to a smaller set of things.
When we are getting way too many search results or search results that are a bit off topic, we can zoom in and think about a more specific term. Using a more specific, or narrower, term we can refine our results into a smaller, more manageable set. Likewise, when we don't get enough results, we can zoom out and find a bigger concept. Using a bigger concept, or broader term, we can increase the number of results.
Challenge!
1. Consider the topic "high school students." Look at the list below and put an "N" next to every term that is narrower than "high school students" and a "B" next to every term that is broader than "high school students."
- high school freshmen
- students
- young adults
- high school athletes
- high school boys
- adolescents
2. Select a topic from the list below then come up with 3 terms that are broader than the topic you picked and 3 that are narrower.
- video games
- New Hampshire
- Marvel Comics movies
- vegetables
- cars
3. Open the Academic Search Premier database, search for the phrase "fossil fuel," and note how many results you get. Then try a new search for the phrase "natural gas," and again note how many results you get. In this case, did the broader term or the narrower term get more results. Did all the results about the narrower term come up when the broader term was searched?