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BIOL 494 Foundations of Research Guide

Search Tips

Search Strategies

To make your searches more effective, try these methods:

  • Make a list of related terms
  • Use Boolean Operators to include or exclude terms
  • Limit the date range, if this option is available
  • Search for full-text only, if this option is available
  • Use quotation marks if you are searching for a phrase, such as "high stakes testing" or "Don't Ask Don't Tell."
  • Use wildcards
  • Limit to peer reviewed articles if your assigment requires it
  • Try searching by subject

Wildcards

Single character variation

Use a question mark in place of a letter to retrieve various spellings.  This is particularly useful if you are not sure how a word or name is spelled.

  • Example: Anders?n would retrieve Anderson and Andersen

Keyword variation

Use an asterisk to retrieve various forms of a word.

  • Example: legislat* would retrieve legislature, legislate, legislation, etc.

Subject vs. Keyword Searching

The two most common types of searches are keyword and subject. 

Keyword: When you do a keyword search, you are searching for a word or words anywhere in a record.  This is similar to searching Google.

Subject: Catalogs and databases organize information according to subject.  The results of a subject search will have a certain amount of topic similarity.  Different databases/catalogs may use different subjects.

Keyword Subject

Uses natural language - how we speak. Example: "Cap and Trade" or "high stakes testing"

 Uses a "controlled vocabulary"-information is organized in a very formal way.  Example: emissions trading or educational evaluation.
Very flexible.  Terms can be combined or alternate terms used. Example: swine flu, swine influenza, H1N1 Not as flexible.  You must know which subject terms the database or catalog uses.
Often retrieve thousands of results, many of which may have little to do with your intended topic.  Results are usually more relevant to your topic.
Can search quickly. Searches take more time - you must first find your subject term and then search.

Often, keyword searches are quicker, but subject searches produce better results.

Need more help?  Check out this tutorial on Choosing & Using Keywords. 

Boolean Operators

Boolean Operators are words that help you craft better searches. 

The operators AND, OR, and NOT are explained below:

AND lets you see where two topics overlap.

Detroit AND bankruptcy finds everything that has both the term "Detroit" and the term "bankruptcy"

OR lets you search for more than one term.

Software Engineers OR Programmers finds everything that has either the terms "software engineers" or "programmers"

NOT lets you exclude a term.

For more information on Boolean operators, see our Search Techniques, Part 1 Tutorial.