Skip to Main Content

Medicine: Search Techniques

Common Search Tips

There are a number of techniques you can use while searching to get better and more relevant results.

 

Basic and advanced search
Basic search usually involves one search box, with a few options about searching a specific collection or field. This is great for general searching. When you have multiple keywords or complex search queries, using Advanced search can be helpful. This usually involves several different boxes for your different keywords, built-in search operators, and more options for field searching and limiters.

Most databases will have a link to Advanced Search next to their Basic search option. Advanced Search in Google Scholar is accessible from the menu.

Search operators
Use these with your keywords to refine your searches and specify exactly what you want to find. These are most useful in journal databases and Primo Search. (Some of them won't work as well in Google Scholar.)

Search Operator Example
Use AND to retrieve results that contain both of your search terms. teenager AND adolescent
Use OR to retrieve results that contain any or all of your search terms. student OR pupil
Using NOT to exclude irrelevant results. pupil NOT eye
Group terms or equivalent keywords with parentheses to create complex searches. (Dream time OR Dreaming) AND Australia
Use quotation marks to search for a phrase

"cultural safety"
"Torres Strait Islander"

Search for terms with different word endings using an asterisk. Australia* = Australia, Australian, Australians
A question mark can be used to replace a single letter within a word. analy?e = analyse, analyze

Field searching and limiters
Most databases will allow you to specify which field you want to search. Common fields include author, title, dates, and subject headings/topic, and these are usually available in both basic and advanced search. 

Once you've searched, you can also limit your results by some of these fields. This is extremely useful if you want all of your articles to have been published within a certain date range, or for them all to be peer-reviewed. Look for these in the menus beside your search results. 

Charles Sturt University acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which its campuses are located, paying respect to Elders, both past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations Peoples.Acknowledgement of Country

Charles Sturt University is an Australian University, TEQSA Provider Identification: PRV12018. CRICOS Provider: 00005F.