Research Tips and Info

Tips for Effective Searches

1.  Use multiple words rather than single keywords

2.  Put phrases (words that need to be side-by-side) in quotation marks (") so that you can find an exact phrase in a document. Examples: "global warming", "drunk driving", "fake news"

3. Truncate your word and use an asterisk after it to pick up all forms of the word.  For example, using the search term teen*, would expand the search to include the terms, teen, teens, teenager, teenagers, teenaged

4. Use AND, OR or NOT, also called Boolean operators, to help narrow or expand your hits

•    Teens AND stress.  Hits will contain both search terms, so you will get articles that contain both words.  This choice will narrow your search and you will get less articles because both terms have to be in each article.

•    Teens OR "young adults".  Hits will contain just one of the two search terms, so you will get lots of articles because only one of your search terms will be in them.  OR is often used to combine synonyms or like concepts. 

•    Jaguar NOT car.   Hits will have the word jaguar in them but will not refer to the automobile. NOT should be used sparingly since it can eliminate information that might have been relevant. Other examples: children NOT teens / Mexico NOT "New Mexico"

• You can combine groups or sets in a variety of ways using the different combinations of Boolean operators. Example:  (high school students OR college students) AND (drugs OR alcohol)