Searching a library database is not like searching on a search engine like Google. The key to quickly retrieving relevant and useful results from a database search is to use a few common search techniques, each described below. Contact a Librarian if you are having trouble finding the results you need in a database search.
The most effective way to search library databases is by using search keywords and phrases. A good way to identify these keywords is to follow the steps below:
​​​By following these steps, you have just created an initial keywords to use for your search! You will likely revise your keywords list as you begin your search and identify additional keywords.
Databases will search for your search term exactly as you type it, but sometimes a word can have common variations in ending. For example, a search for swim could exclude results that use swimming or swimmer even though those terms could potentially be beneficial to your search.
Some databases allow you to search for variations in endings using a process called truncation, which involves shortening a word so that variations with alternate endings can be found. You can truncate a search keyword using a wildcard, often symbolized using an asterisk (*).
| Truncated Search | Possible Results |
|---|---|
| nurs* |
nurse nursing nurses |
| educat* |
education educational educate |
Boolean operators are linking words used to combine search keywords and phrases in most library databases. The most common are AND, OR, and NOT. Choose one of the above tabs to learn more.
AND can be used to connect separate, unrelated concepts. AND can be used to find results that include ALL of your search keywords and phrases. For example:
This search would return results including both swimming AND beach. Imagine that the two overlapping circles below are topics connected with AND. AND will narrow down your search results to only the areas where the two topics intersect.
OR can be used to connect related or similar concepts. Using OR in a search will find results that include one or more of the search keywords or phrases. For example:
This search will return results including one or more of the keywords or search phrases. Imagine that the two overlapping circles in the image below are two search keywords linked with OR; OR will expand your results.
NOT can be used to limit or exclude searches from your results. NOT is beneficial when dealing with words with multiple meanings. Consider the below example:
This search will return results that include the term crane, but exclude the term bird. This search would be helpful if you were looking for results focusing on the construction crane, not the bird crane. Use NOT with caution because it can potentially exclude useful results. For example, an article addressing the use of cranes in construction may be excluded because it has a passing reference to birds.
Imagine that the two overlapping circles below are topics connected with NOT. NOT will remove any results that include the second topic, narrowing the results.
Most databases search for individual occurrences of keywords, regardless of the order they appear. To let the database know that you want to search for two or more keywords as a phrase, enclose the keywords in quotation marks (" ") to conduct a direct phrase search. For example, a search using "social media" will look for the occurrence of the terms social and media in that exact order.
You can combine multiple Boolean operators, truncated keywords, and phrases in a single search. This is called a search string.
In most databases, terms connected by AND are processed first in the search string. For this reason, it can be helpful to enclose terms connected by OR in parentheses. This tells the database that the terms are connected and should be processed together as a group.
Examples:
Some databases, Central Search being the biggest example, use # as a way to find an alternate spelling of a word when it includes an additional character. For example, searching for colo#r will find all records containing color or colour.
Please note that wildcards can vary across databases. Check the Help screen of the database for more information on the symbols to use in wildcard searches.
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