Spanish Resources: Estrategias de búsqueda

• Note key concepts that relate to your topic.
• Find an appropriate search tool. Consider your subject matter, discipline, type of information needed, etc. 
• Construct a search.
  • Use OR to join synonyms or related terms.
  • Use AND to join dissimilar terms.
  • Use quotations to search for a phrase.
  • Use truncation to pick up various endings of a word.
• Incorporate appropriate limiters as needed before conducting the search or after viewing the results list, such as language, date, type of article, etc.
• Skim results; read abstracts to determine an article's relevance.
• Use subject terms to direct you to other articles with the same tags.
• Revise search as needed. Consider using other terminology you discover from titles and descriptors. 
• Locate full-text of the article either through a HTML/PDF link, UCe-Links button, or Request (ILL) through UC-eLinks.
• Review a relevant source's reference list to locate other articles, books, or authors who have written on the same topic. 
• If you're not finding information that exactly matches your topic, use pieces of information from sources that are related.

You still use the Boolean operators written in English when searching for information in Spanish.

Use OR to broaden your search.

For example, if you search advertising OR commercials, you will find articles that include either term.

Use AND to narrow your search.

For example, if you search advertising AND commercials, you will only find articles that include both terms.

Use quotation marks to search for a phrase (two words or more).

• “estudios bilingües”
• “estudiantes universitarios”
• "información nutricional"
• "hábitos alimentarios"

Use a truncation symbol (the asterisk * is the most common) to look for different word endings.

• bilingu*= bilingüe, bilingüismo, etc.
• estudiant*= estudiante, estudiantes, estudiantil, etc.
• nutricion*=nutrición, nutriocional, etc.