Boolean search & retrieval
Posted by Lovable Leona on July 4, 2008
Reading Assignment
Title: Development of Information Search Expertise: Postgraduates’ Knowledge of Searching Skills.
Author: Samuel Kai-Wah Chu, Nancy Law.
Publisher: Portal : Libraries and the Academy
Abstract of the article:
This paper reports about the development of information searching skills of the 12 postgraduate research students. It focuses on the students’ perception of the importance of searching skills and the growth of their knowledge with these skills as they progressed through their studies. Findings reveal that, as the students understood boolean searching their searching skills become more efficient.
3 Things I learned from my Reading Assignment:
Boolean searching is named after 19th-century mathematician George Boole. Boole created the branch of math known today as symbolic logic. Boolean searching is done by the use of symbols, and also is very logical.
- I’ve learned that Boolean searching simply uses logical words or characters (called “operators”) to tell the search engine what to do with the words you enter.
- It also reminds me that there are two kinds of two types of ineffective keyword searches: (1) keyword searches that found zero search results and (2) keyword searches that found too many items.
- I’ve also learned the use of the operators used in Boolean searching.
Implications of the new things I learned to my work/ to me as a person:
As I finished my bachelor’s degree, I haven’t notice the importance of using boolean searching and retrieval. This reading assignment made me realized the value of using the boolean operators in searching for information. As the paper have mentioned, it is only through practice we can enhance our skill searching for information. Upon realizing the use of boolean searching, I will make it to the point that I use the boolean operators to save my time in looking for information that is useful in my field of endeavor.
