Searching for one keyword or phrase can mean your results are too vague and broad. If you search with several keywords, it’s a good idea to use more advanced search options, or to use some boolean operators. By doing this, your search will be more focussed and you will have fewer, but more accurate results to work with.
Try some of the suggestions on this page for more advanced searching and see what works for you and your topic.
Watch this brief video on search techniques or have a look at some below.
Remember there is no such thing as the perfect search!
Don't give up too easily and try different search terms and techniques to help you find what you need.
Being more strategic with your searches will save you frustration and get you on the right path more quickly it's not always enough to just type in some keywords although that's always a good start. Sometimes you need to try techniques to make your searches more effective and find the key to unlocking your research.
Boolean operators connect your search words together to either narrow or broaden your set of results. The three basic operators are 'and', 'or', and 'not', and they can help you to focus a search particularly when your topic contains multiple search terms and narrows your search.
AND tells the database that all search terms must be present.
OR broadens your search and tells the database that any of your search terms can be present using not allows you to exclude terms in your search.
Once you understand Boolean operators, you can combine terms to tell a database or search engine exactly what you are looking for.
Other techniques include truncation and wildcards. Truncation tells your search to look for different endings of your search term. Wildcards allow you to check for different spellings by leaving a blank in your word.
You can sometimes specify an exact phrase in your search using quotation marks so that the words appear in that order next to each other. Brackets can also be used to group terms in a boolean search string and Advanced search options in library databases or Library Search you can specify fields you'd like to search. Field searching lets you tell a database exactly where you want your keywords to be found. Finally, here are some google tips and tricks for you to try good luck with your searching.
Have a look at this video about snowball and citation searching which can help you move your research forward quickly.
Snowball searching transcript: Introducing snowball searching
Imagine a snowball rolling along gathering snow getting bigger and bigger. The snowball search method enables you to gather sources like snow and can help you with your research. Imagine your snowball is a key source for your topic once you have found a key source use this as a starting point. This might be a journal article or a book you have found in your initial searches. Check out the bibliography in the key source or document you have found this will help you find other relevant sources for your topic. You can then look in these sources bibliographies to find even more relevant sources. Advantages and disadvantages: An advantage is you can find a lot of sources quickly and relatively easily. Disadvantages- you are looking backwards in time at sources published prior to the ones you are reading so sources are getting older. This is especially true with books which take a long time to publish and can go out of date more quickly. Other options include looking forward in time instead of backwards. Try out citation searching – consider who has cited or referenced this article I am reading. Look for cited this or cited by options when searching. Whether you are using library search library databases or Google Scholar you can often find this option in library search look for citing this which is forwards in time and cited in this which is backwards in time. For more help visit the library or the Study Guides.
Boolean operators are simple linking words.
These are: AND / OR / NOT
| AND | OR | NOT |
|---|---|---|
| Narrows your search | Broadens your search | Eliminates search terms |
| e.g. crime AND poverty | e.g. college OR university | e.g. cloning NOT sheep |
| Your results are limited to those that contain all your keywords | Your results will have either or both of your search terms | Your results will be narrower because you have eliminated certain words |
Library databases can be fussy about the way you spell words, so if you aren’t sure of spelling you or if you know there are multiple variations of your search term, then use wildcards or truncation to cover all possibilities.
| Truncation | Wildcards |
|---|---|
| Expands your search to include different endings of a word | Allow you to search for different spellings of a word by filling in the blank in the middle |
| Example: theor* = theorist / theory / theory / theoretical / theorise |
Example: gr?y = grey / gray It’s a good idea to check the Help options in databases as the type of wild card symbol used can vary! |
To find exact phrases i.e. with the words next to each other, you can sometimes use quotation marks. So to search for global warming as a term, type "global warming"
You can try using brackets to group terms within a query to clarify the order of multiple operators.
Examples:
In advanced search options in library databases or Library Search you can specify fields you'd like to search.
Common fields include:
You can combine multiple fields using the boolean AND, OR, NOT operators. You can add lines for each concept of your topic and build a search string.
For a more detailed look at field searching watch this video from Iowa State University
