Databases provide access to vast amounts of information. To locate relevant articles, it is essential to develop database searching techniques. These techniques help you search databases effectively, efficiently and can be applied to almost any database.
When searching a database, it is important to carefully consider your search words. Too many keywords may retrieve no or very few results. Too few keywords may retrieve too many results.
It is also important to think of alternative keywords. Not all of the relevant results will use the same keyword so think of synonyms (words that mean the same thing) and alternative keywords.
Examples of alternate keywords:
Video credited to Cosumnes River College Library.
CRC Library. (2015, October 3). The benefits of keyword searching [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpzi6dxabOY
Boolean operators connect your keywords together to either narrow or broaden your search results. The three Boolean operators are AND, OR and NOT.
| AND | OR | NOT |
|
The Boolean operator AND will narrow your search and provide fewer results because the database only retrieves results that contain all of your keywords. For example, travel AND Europe will only find results that contain both travel AND Europe in the article. |
The Boolean operator OR will expand your search and provide more results because the database retrieves results that contain at least one keyword. For example, college OR university will find results that contain either college OR university. |
The Boolean operator NOT will narrow your search and provide results that include the first keyword and excludes the second keyword. Be aware that this operator can exclude useful results. For example, television NOT cable will find results that contain television but do NOT contain cable. |
Video credited to McMaster Libraries.
McMaster Libraries. (2016, November 29). How library stuff works: Boolean operators (AND OR NOT) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCAULDuMcso
Phrase searching is a technique that asks the database to search for keywords as a phrase.
Phrase searching tells the databases to search for the words side by side in the results. To do this, put the keywords in quotation marks.
Most databases use quotation marks to create a phrase search but check the database’s help page to find its phrase search symbols.
Examples of phrase searching:
Video credited to LIBCSU: North Carolina State University Libraries.
LIBNCSU. (2015, March 13). Tips and tricks: Phrase searching [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_mQGzRyTg4
Truncation is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings.
To truncate a word type in part of the word and put the truncation symbol at the end. The database will return results that include any ending after the truncation symbol.
In most databases the truncation symbol is an asterisk but check the database’s help page to find its truncation symbol.
Examples of truncation:
Develop* will find: developed, development, developmental, developer, developing
Video credited to McMaster Libraries.
McMaster Libraries. (2016, November 29). How library stuff works: Boolean modifiers “”, *, () [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed7EswsnEbM
Wildcards are similar to truncation, it replaces one letter in a word with a wildcard symbol. This is useful if the word is spelt differently in different countries or if there is a singular and plural form of the word.
By including the wildcard the database will return results that include both spellings of the word. In most databases the wildcard symbol is a question mark but check the database’s help page to find its wildcard symbol.
Examples of wildcards:
Brackets are used to group together keywords. The databases will search for the keywords within the brackets first and then the keywords outside of the brackets.
Use nested searches if you have tried Boolean operator, phrase and truncation/wildcard searches and are still not getting relevant results.
Example of a nested search:
mentor* AND (“job satisfaction” OR motivation)
The database will first look for the keywords within the brackets, job satisfaction or motivation, and then for results also containing keywords like mentor, mentoring, mentorship etc.
Video credited to McMaster Libraries.
McMaster Libraries. (2016, November 29). How library stuff works: Boolean modifiers “”, *, () [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed7EswsnEbM
Many databases will allow you to limit your search results in a number of ways. Limiters are usually available on advanced search screens or after a keyword search.
Limiters let you narrow the focus of your search so that the information retrieved from the databases is useful and relevant. You do not need to use all the limiters at once, simply choose the limiters that are useful for your search.
| Full Text |
Limits results to where the full article is available to read and excludes abstract only results. |
| Peer Reviewed |
Limits search results to articles from peer reviewed journals. Peer reviewed means the article has been reviewed by a panel of acknowledged experts in the field of study discussed in the article. |
| Publication Date |
Restricts your search to documents published within a particular date range e.g. 2011-2021. |
| Source Type |
Limits your search to documents from one or more source types such as magazines, newspapers or academic journals. The list of source types will vary depending on the database you are currently searching. |
| Document type |
Limits your search to one or more document types such as articles, literature reviews or wire feeds. The list of document types will vary depending on the database you are currently searching. |
| Subject Heading |
Each document is assigned subject headings that identify topics discussed in the document. You can limit your search to documents with a specific subject heading. |
| Publication Title |
Lists the different journals and magazines that published the articles in your results list. You can limit your search to a specific journal or magazine but this may eliminate useful articles from your results list. |
| Publisher |
Lists the different publishers who have published the documents in your results list e.g. Wiley-Blackwell. You can limit your search to a specific publisher but this may eliminate useful documents from your results list. |
| Language |
Limiting or expanding your search to one or more languages is useful if you are bilingual or multilingual, however, a translation into English must be used within assignments. |
| Age |
Select an age range that will limit your results to the specified age. |
| Gender |
Limits your search results to a specific gender. |
| Company |
Lists the different companies discussed within the documents in your results list e.g. Microsoft. You can limit your search to a specific company but this may eliminate useful documents from your results list. |
Colour Code
Boolean Operators: Connect your keywords together to either narrow or broaden your search results using AND, OR, NOT.
Phrase Searching: Search for keywords as a phrase by placing a phrase within quotation marks " ".
Truncation: Use an asterisk * to broaden your search to include various word endings.
Wildcards: Uses a question mark ? to replace a letter in a word to allow for alternative spelling or singular/plural words.
Nested Searching: Databases will first search for the keywords within the brackets ( ) and then the keywords outside of the brackets.
These search examples have the searching techniques colour coded to illustrate how these techniques can be used together:
communica* AND ("human resources" OR HR OR "personnel management")
(wom?n OR female) AND (smok* OR tobacco)
(microbeads OR “plastic beads” OR microplastics) AND environment* AND (impact OR effect)
Video credited to Steely Library at Northern Kentucky University.
Steely Library NKU. (2018, January 5). Developing a research question [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QauomrFcrXk
Video credited to University of South Australia.
University of South Australia. (2017, October 20). Study help: Plan your search [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-GlTrrXdhw
Video credited to ProQuest Training.
ProQuest Training. (2018, July 24). Basic search [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvRnB3dLNnQ
Video credited to ProQuest Training.
ProQuest Training. (2015, August 14). Advanced search [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p2eJqJT0SI
Video credited to ProQuest Training.
ProQuest Training. (2015, August 14). Search results [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOx2c-5YLog
Video credited to ProQuest Training.
ProQuest Training. (2015, August 14). Publication search [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfi4rVWcM0A
Video credited to ProQuest Training.
ProQuest Training. (2015, August 14). ProQuest thesaurus [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz0wGUfgDIQ
Video credited to EBSCO Tutorials.
EBSCO Tutorials. (2022, April 21). Introduction to EBSCOhost: Tutorial [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9QmFBSz17A
Video credited to EBSCO Tutorials.
EBSCO Tutorials. (2022, March 24). EBSCOhost basic search: Tutorial [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT833d5F2yI
Video credited to EBSCO Tutorials.
EBSCO Tutorials. (2022, March 24). EBSCOhost advanced searching: Tutorial [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsD0ZH1hx4o
Video credited to EBSCO Tutorials.
EBSCO Tutorials. (2021, February 28). Using the EBSCOhost result list: Tutorial [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fY54ksR_y8
Video credited to EBSCO Tutorials.
EBSCO Tutorials. (2019, February 28). Reading an article on EBSCOhost: Tutorial [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3wx3qTenHc
Video credited to EBSCO Tutorials.
EBSCO Tutorials. (2022, March 19). MyEBSCO folder: Tutorial [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWenVWQj3LU
Video credited to EBSCO Tutorials.
EBSCO Tutorials. (2022, April 19). Creating a search alert in EBSCOhost: Tutorial [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9QmFBSz17A
