Some Suggested Answers
Part A:
1. a) You'd get a lot, including trees in the rainforest; animals
that live in trees in the rainforest; people who have visited the
rainforest and the trees they saw; medicines from rainforest trees
b) You wouldn't get very much, since most articles about the
rainforest mention something about trees. You might get something about
the amount of rain, animals on the ground, or soil chemistry.
c) You'd get all in number 1 plus anything about trees and anything
about the rainforest. You'd have much more than you wanted, including a
lot that you can't use. This is not a good way to search!
2. Start by trying rainforest, then try rainforest NOT US, then
rainforest AND Latin America, rainforest AND Africa, or rainforest AND
(Latin America OR Africa).
3. Try family AND planning AND China, then population AND control AND China
4. A and B and C = nothing because A
and B are completely separate.
A or B = A, B, D, and E
(A or B) not C = A, B
B and C = E
(B or C) not A = B, E, C (but not D)
Part B:
1. From broadest to narrowest topic
Latin America
Central America
Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa Rica
ecology
agriculture
forest
rainforest
temperate rainforest
Oregon rainforest
2. Try ecology OR environment AND Costa Rica; then try rainforest AND
(Central America OR Latin America) to broaden the search.
3. Look at a couple of the articles, then pick a specific animal or a
specific country to narrow the search.
Go back to the February Technology Tip
If you have questions, comments, or for more information,
contact Deborah Healey, dhealey AT uoregon DOT edu
https://www.deborahhealey.com/techtips/febtipanswers.html
Last
updated 26 June, 2009