ENG 334 - Introduction to English Linguistics: Search Tips

Choosing Keywords

Keywords describe or define your research question’s main ideas.  They can be words or phrases pulled directly from your research question or thesis.  They can also be synonyms of those words or phrases.  In preparing to search databases it is helpful to first identify useful keywords that can be entered into a database search box alone or in combination with other keywords.

Search Symbols

?    A question mark  is called a wild card.  In a search, it replaces one character within a word.

• for example:  you can search Sahar?n if you are unsure whether it is spelled Saharen or Saharan (correct spelling).
• a pound sign (#) is used as a wild card if you want to replace 2 or more letters within a word.

*     An asterisk is used for truncation. It is always placed at the end.  It searches for all words that start with the root phrase before the pound sign. The *  represents any number of letters at the end of the word.

• For example, if you want to search variations of a term, or are unsure of spelling:  white-tai* deer 
  will retrieve both white-tail deer and white-tailed deer (correct form)
• This also works well for plurals that have different endings, or for alternate spellings for terms that are spelled differently in other English-speaking countries

Using AND / OR / NOT

And / Or / Not

These are Boolean operators. 

Think of each keyword as having a "set" of results that are connected with it.

These sets can be combined to produce a different "set" of results. 

AND is used to reveal only the documents that have both  ​concepts.. Use AND to narrow your search.

For example.  Below you see the difference in the amount of results that occurs by using the various operators.

Search Term	Hits
HIV	123,252 hits
Denialism	91 hits
HIV AND Denialism	36 hits

 

The words "HIV' and 'Denialism will both be present in each record.

OR is a connector that allows either word to be present in each record in the results. Use OR to expand your search.

Search Term	Hits
Adolescents	86,877 hits
Teenagers	151,644 hits
Adolescents OR teenagers	182,833 hits

 

Either 'adolescents' or 'teenagers' (or both) will be present in each record.

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NOT is a connector that requires the first word be present in each record in the results, but only if the record does not contain the second word.

Search Term	Hits
HIV	123,252 hits
Adolescents OR Teenagers	182,833 hits
NOT United States	2,598 hits

 

So a search for HIV AND Adolescents OR Teenagers NOT in the United States will remove records that include United States