1.Search Strategies are important in narrowing down your field, and to determine that you get the correct search parameters that you are looking for. There are numerous strategies that can be used to research literature online using the PsycINFO database. The best way to start a search is to determine the specific research questions in order to guide the search, using key terms and parameters. It is also important to determine all synonyms, alternate terminology and any word variations to narrow your search. The use of Boolear Operations such as the words; “and”, “or” will change the search results. Using the word “and” between each search term will give results that contain all the search terms, where using the word “or” between search terms will give results that contain at least one of the search terms. Focusing your search using limiters such as the document type, methodology, publication type and year are helpful search strategies to use in conjunction with the afore mentioned strategies. Using a variety of search strategies is important to limit your search to make it as efficient and effective as possible.

When I first started the basic search I used the words pet ownership, beneficial, and health. The search options I used were to find any of my search terms, publication year 2005-2015, and English. This search generated 572 116 results. There were too many results to determine the relevance of these search results.
I then used a basic search again using all the same search parameters as the first search, and typing in the question, “Is pet ownership beneficial to people’s health? If yes, why?” This search resulted in 185 044 results, which was again too many results, but a narrower field. The specific question resulted in a narrower search results, so I used this idea to proceed with a more advanced search.
I tried an advanced search using Boolean