VC Library Handbook

DATABASE SEARCH TECHNIQUES The following techniques will assist you in customizing and defining the search results.

Boolean Operators:

 “AND” Narrows the search and results in fewer articles retrieved by including articles that must contain both terms.

DOGS AND CATS

“O R”



Broadens the search and results in many articles retrieved by including results which contain either or both query terms.

DOGS OR CATS

 “NOT” Narrows the search and results in fewer articles by eliminating a term.

DOGS NOT CATS

An asterisk ( *) placed at the end of a word or root form of the word will prompt the database to search for all words that share the same root.

Truncation:

micro *



Example :

Matches microscope, microcomputer, etc.

Wildcards:

Wildcards substitute symbols for one or more letters, thus locating various spellings and forms of the word.

?



Stands for a single letter. Example: psych ???? y Matches either psychology or psychiatry

Quotation Marks:

Placing quotation marks around the search terms prompts the database to search for the phrase exactly as written without separating the words.

“ deficit spending ” The database will search for the terms “deficit spending” in the order specified without separating the terms.



Example:

Proximity Operators:

Proximity operators are used between two search terms to indicate that the terms must occur within a specified distance of each other. The W operator searches for word pairs in which the pair’s second term occurs within a specified number of words after the first.

W (within)



shared W 3 values

Matches any records in which the word values occurs three or fewer words after the word shared.

Example:

N (near)

The N operator specifies that the words on either side of the operator must occur within a specified number of words of each other in either direction for a record to match.



Example : deficit N 3 spending

Matches any records in which the words deficit and spending occur within three or fewer words of each other in either direction.

Field Codes:

Researchers may specify where they want the database to search for their search terms. Specifying a particular field (author, title, subject, abstract/summary) helps to focus or narrow the search. Select from a drop down menu or place two-letter codes in front of the search terms as follows:

su exercise and weight



Searches for articles with assigned subject headings of exercise and weight.

Example:

ti exercise



Searches for titles of articles that contain the word exercise

Example: