Time to test the search query
(“preparatory year” OR “early childhood” OR “preschool” OR “pre-school”) AND (“information literacy” OR “digital literacy” OR “information fluency”) AND (“*nquiry-based learning” OR “guided *nquiry”)
The following video shows the first test of this search query.
So what went wrong?
Researching can be very frustrating. With respect to advanced searching, it requires lots of iterations of identifying search terms, formulating search queries, running searches, evaluating the effectiveness of searches and reformulating queries. It also requires synthesising and evaluating the information gathered and determining potential areas of investigations and gaps in knowledge or evidence. These information needs might require different search terms.
(“preparatory year” OR “early childhood” OR “preschool” OR “pre-school”) AND (“information literacy” OR “digital literacy” OR “information fluency”) AND (“*nquiry-based learning” OR “guided *nquiry”)
The following video shows the first test of this search query.
So what went wrong?
Researching can be very frustrating. With respect to advanced searching, it requires lots of iterations of identifying search terms, formulating search queries, running searches, evaluating the effectiveness of searches and reformulating queries. It also requires synthesising and evaluating the information gathered and determining potential areas of investigations and gaps in knowledge or evidence. These information needs might require different search terms.
As the query returned no results I decided to simplify it. I tried the following queries without success.
Still no success. My next option was to try combinations to find out which terms might be problematic.
This database had been recommended for early childhood education topics, so the following queries.
Here endth the lesson on using double quotes instead of single quotes. Databases are very pedantic. I really should have read the search advice for each database before I start. But that wasn’t the end of my problems.
Subsequent searches:
Through this series of searches I realised that subject searches reduced the number of results and made it more likely that the items returned would be related to my topic. I also learned that ‘early childhood’ seemed to be the prefered ‘subject’ for items related to ‘preschool’ or ‘preparatory year’, and that ‘inquiry learning’ seem to be the prefered ‘subject’ for items about ‘inquiry-based learning’.
Through this series of searches I realised that subject searches reduced the number of results and made it more likely that the items returned would be related to my topic. I also learned that ‘early childhood’ seemed to be the prefered ‘subject’ for items related to ‘preschool’ or ‘preparatory year’, and that ‘inquiry learning’ seem to be the prefered ‘subject’ for items about ‘inquiry-based learning’. 
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