Basic Search Strategies
Now that you have your topic and you have picked a database that best meets your needs, it is time to discuss how to actually use a database. This may seem straightforward, and it is, but there are some concepts that can really assist your searching to get the best results in the least amount of time.
⚠️ Please keep in mind we are focusing on the databases that are most used but any database will work similarly - they just look different.
Searching with Keywords
Most of us start with putting in a couple of keywords we would have learned while doing our tertiary research (using Wikipedia more than likely). These keywords are going to start giving us an idea of what kind of results we can expect from this database. Remember, if you are doing a paper on WWII and are looking in PsycARTICLES, a psychology database, you may be disappointed with your results. Make sure you have chosen a database for your topic. Let's begin by looking at one of our general databases from a company we get a lot of databases from, EBSCO Academic Search Elite.
💡 Quick Tip
Make sure to keep track of your sources as you go so you don't have to go back and look them up later. If you need help with citing your sources, the HJF Library has guides for APA, Chicago, MLA & CSE Science!
Most databases provide you with an advanced search interface that allows for more nuanced searching. If you only see a single search box, you are using the basic search. Look for the link to the advanced search to see more options.
With EBSCO, we have most of our links going right to the advanced search page. You will see three search boxes, but you can add more clicking the plus button below the green search button.
Type in your first keyword into the top box. This can be a phrase or several words if that is what is necessary. For example, rather than just putting environment we could use environmental impact instead. Now enter your second term into the box below. Click search or hit enter and you'll get results. Easy, right?
But what are those little boxes with "AND" in them?
Boolean Operators
Boolean operators are used to construct your searches more effectively. A Venn diagram illustrates how this works nicely. Imagine you are doing a search with two keywords. Each circle, the left and the right, represents the information found in a database containing that keyword. Thus, the left circle is all the sources that have that specific keyword and the right circle has all the sources that have the second keyword. The middle area, where the two circles cross, represents the sources found in the database that contain both keywords.
AND
With AND, we're telling the database we only want the green area, the area that contains both keywords.
OR
With OR, we're telling the database we want all three areas. The only time we usually use OR is when we are searching two keywords that mean the same thing. For example: Mark Twain OR Samuel Clemens.
NOT
NOT is used to exclude a keyword from the results, even if the other keyword is included. We don't use this very often because it can exclude good search results simply because the other keyword is in the record.
Limiters
Limiters are the options we usually see on the left, right or across the top of our search results page. Every database has them, even Google, they are just located in different places on the search results page.
Limiters are used to "limit" our results based on a list of criteria determined by the results we got doing our search. Some common ones are the availability of full text, scholarly/peer reviewed, date publication ranges, regions/locations/countries, and languages. Consider the requirements you may have for your research and adjust the limiters accordingly so you can eliminate the results that do not meet those requirements. For example, if you know you are only looking for peer reviewed articles, then make sure to check the box to only show articles from peer reviewed journals and watch the unnecessary search results disappear.
⚠️ Don't limit your results to those only in "full text." Why? Because you may be removing very good sources from your search results simply because THIS database doesn't have the article. The HJF Library provides access to many other databases that may have that very article in, and if we don't, we provide access to a service called interlibrary loan (ILL). Interlibrary loan allows us to request any article we don't have and that is not freely available online from another library at NO CHARGE to you. We can do physical books, articles, movies and music (CDs or scores), but the only thing we can get electronically (as a PDF emailed to you) are articles.
Analyzing the Record
Each search result in a database is called a "record". It provides bibliographical information about each source the database returned, even when it is not in full text. You can find the author, journal it came from, subject terms (we will talk more about in advanced search strategies), and an abstract.
Abstracts are hugely beneficial to determining whether or not you want to use an article. It is a kind of summary about the contents of that article and even when it is not in full text, you can learn exactly what an article is about in order to determine if you even want to search elsewhere for the full text. It will also save you time reading the article to find out if you want to use it. ALWAYS read the abstract first before clicking into the full text.