There are a few laws
that define amateur search
from professional search.
There are three major types of searches:
literary, patent and citation.
Let's start with the literary search.
I'll show you the method
and then I'll show you the others.
For patents, I'll show you the databases.
There are a few things to watch out for.
I will just mention citation searches,
because you don't usually do them by yourself.
Tell the library to do it for you.
Literary research
it is simply search
in journals, articles, books, etc.
The first step not only of the literary search,
but also of patent search,
(the same technique of preparation is applied for the literary and the patent searches)
and preparation is needed.
The first step of preparation is
looking for search terms.
It is quite appropriate to create
something like a search form.
This is not defined,
it is just your work
file where you meaningfully
put together things you are going to work with.
This is an example of
one search
and you can
beautifully see the procedures.
What is needed most of all,
is to find search terms.
Of course, at the beginning you think about the question
you want to search for.
But after that you will start looking for search terms.
Then,
just translate them into English.
Most databases
work with English,
or sometimes with German or other languages,
for example if you are looking for psychology or something.
When you know the search terms in Czech,
you can translate them into English,
but it is essential
to pay attention to the correcteness.
Because e.g. I have "vlákna" here ...
which can be translated as fiber or fibre
but also as thread or filament.
So I can translate "zdravotní péče" as well,
an the word "antibakteriální" (that adjective)
etc.
I have it divided if you notice
into multiple columns.
I have it called tactics - these are aspects
from which one can approach the subject.
E.g. health care
can also be medical care.
I write it down like this so I don't get lost.
Which is nothing complicated.
After I think of all the search terms,
I think of all the translations.
By the way, Google Translate is good for it,
it just works well.
Or is it possible to use Wikipedia,
because, actually,
you can see exactly how it's called.
Overall, you can rely on it.
Of course Wikipedia as such - there are better resources of
information, but to identify synonyms
it's pretty good.
So you look for the rest of the terms,
I translated them,
and then
I compose from them
What I call
building blocks.
There are few tactics,
how to search.
I use the tactics with the building blocks.
I find it the best,
because it is related to the way
the databases, the interfaces are set up.
You will see that when I show you
how to query the database.
And I think it's probably the easiest way
to work with it.
I picked the terms, translated them,
and now actually
I have "oblečení" here, I have translated it
and I'll make this out of it.
I combine those terms using Boolean logic,
so I'll give OR
- they are synonyms, so we need one of them -
and here, as you can see the star,
it is an extension operator.
There are a lot of extension and proximity operators,
there are small differences between them,
but the star is essentially universal,
it's there since the first OS was invented,
and it´s used the same way.
The asterisk is a wildcard,
which the system uses to substitute anything.
So I merged the cloth and clothing into one -
I'll just put a root in there and add an asterisk.
Then I'll add the other synonyms,
here I added a star at the garmen,
because there may be that end of the word
and some other ending will be added to it.
And that's how all the possibilities are covered.
This is a bit more difficult step, but not too much.
From that Boolean logic there is actually only OR and AND,
which you will need for that search.
This is how I'll do the other things as well,
I will do the things from the second column for example.
This is the medical one,
I'm going to make it medic*.
Here those bedding there is bedding or bedclothes
and I'll just make it bed*.
Now I actually have the building blocks ready.
And from the building blocks
I can actually start making those questions.
This is nothing else
than what is for example in the first column,
there I actually combined this and this.
Because from our point of view
they're all synonyms,
that I can use as substitutes. So I just have some assignment,
to look for some fabrics,
that have some of the antibacterial properties, etc.
So sure.
I want things where the clothes actually appear,
but I don't mind when they appear there using
the thing that symbolizes the substance -
textiles like that.
Or even this, right. It actually symbolizes the bedding.
And I'll make this out of it.
I can combine it into one.
The polypropylene is simple, it was there alone,
similar for the fibres.
Here, the health, I put that into one as well
and here those bacterial and insecticidal properties,
I also combined them into one.
So there's nothing really complicated about that.
And now I have those questions ready,
which I will then use in those databases.
It is also good to prepare -
not all databases have sophisticated interfaces -
so it is good to prepare
a query for a database that is not as smart.
You just choose from all the things you have prepared,
just the most important one
or those that seem to you,
that they have the most weight,
and merge them into one expression.
You can use brackets, etc.
So actually a point means a parenthesis
and they are simply connected by AND.
The query for the stupid database
should not have more then ten terms
because they can't handle larger numbers.
And that's actually the end of the preparation.
So, the preparation consists of
creating a form,
into which you put all the search terms, translate them
and from the translations through the intermediate step -
over those building blocks
you actually put the logical expressions together.
And here you have the questions, you will then enter into the database.
And this is the greatest nub,
what actually sets apart
professional research
from the, lets say, amateur one.
Because now you have it ready
and you follow a system.
It's not that
you just write different ... different things,
into the databases and just trying,
what suits you.
Now you know you just searched through one database
and you can move on.
It is simply systematic work.
So
that was the first step - the preparation.