Focus on the question. What you are searching for? the latest developments, statistics etc. Give it some thought BEFORE you start your search.
Pick the right search tool vs. the one you know! Is the information likely to be in an article, book, on the open internet? Who is likely to have authored the work? Who is the intended audience?
Examine what you find to revise your strategy. Analyze the most useful results for related terminology, sources, authors etc. to add to your search.
Read the instructions and/or scope notes for databases, clincal queries, limits, thesauri, etc.
Money talks. For academic work, focus on paid (licensed) sources. Find these on the Gerstein Homepage.
Avoid commonly used words. e.g. health, drugs, therapy, the, an, etc.
Replicate. Unless you have found exactly what you are looking for and confirmed accuracy, don’t stop with one source. Tools vary in quality and inclusion.
Don’t spend a lot of time trying to make something work. Try a different tool or approach. Never hesitate to ask for help.
Don't get side-tracked. Bookmark or save that spectacular find, and move on.
Keep your search simple in simple tools. Don’t complicate your search by adding too many terms, but use discretion. Use roots of words where supported.
What is the scope of the search tool? What subjects and titles are included? Pubmed and Medline index the same journals, for example.
What is being searched? Full text, bibliographic citations, references? Free text or controlled vocabularly?
What type of search is it? Free text (Scopus), Guided (Ovid), “Intelligent” or algorithmic (Pubmed, Google)
