Without clear goals in mind, net searching becomes net surfing - a kind of aimless, accidental effort. But the author likes lists of fairly obvious good advice about search strategies. Somewhat more articulate is the advice given by Ward and Hanson in their text, Search Strategies in Mass Communication . We condense several chapters from this text below, a sort of Reader's Digest version. Searching as a Process Many books on research emphasize steps or a process in defining and completing a search.
Diagrams are common.
These are fine if used as a general guide, but know that rarely does the real activity work out as described in the text. Shortcuts and added steps arise frequently. Realize that some of the separations Ward and Hanson make are less distinct in a modern hypermedia environment. I find in this search a link to Yahoo's specialty page devoted to this topic. Here I find a wealth of material.