Look at the number of items retrieved by your search terms or search statement.
How many did it retrieve?
- Ask yourself how many results per search you can scan through quickly. Most people can scan 75-100 records fairly quickly.
- If it retrieved more than 100 items, you have probably retrieved too many.
- If it retrieved less than 10 items, you have probably retrieved too few.
- If you retrieved too many or too few, you probably need to revise your search
How many of the retrieved items are relevant to your information needs?
- Scan the retrieved items
- If many of the items retrieved are relevant, you may have all you need.
- If only a few items are relevant, you need to revise your search.
Strategies for revising your search
When your search statement retrieves too many or too few items, ask yourself the following questions.
