It's worth spending time learning how to search effectively, so that you can be confident you are retrieving the most relevant articles for your assignment. Below we discuss some search strategies that will help you conduct better searches:
Boolean operators allow you to fine tune your search by using the operators "AND", "OR" and "NOT" to combine keywords and expand or narrow your search. The diagram below shows you how Boolean operators refine a search.
Truncation allows you to search for all variants of a word. The truncation symbol is usually an asterisk (*), inserted after the last letter in the stem word.
The table below shows you how to use a truncation symbol and how it affects what a database searches:
| Truncated word: | What the database will search for: |
| ornitholog* | ornithology, ornithological |
| ecolog* | ecology, ecological |
| nest* | nest, nests, nesting |
Wildcard symbols enable you to substitute a symbol for one letter of a word. They are particularly useful for words with multiple spellings.
The wildcard symbol is typically a question mark (?), inserted in place of the variable letter. However, some databases differ, so it's good practice to check the 'Help' section of the database you are using.
| Wildcard word: | What the database will search for: |
| Behavio?r | Behaviour, Behavior |
| colo?r | Colour, Color |
| Organi?ation | Organisation, Organization |
Most articles include a list of subject headings or author keywords that convey the overarching themes covered in the article. You can use the subject headings or author keywords from a relevant article to identify additional keywords and common terms.
Below is an example of a database records from Academic Search Complete.
In many databases these are also links that you can click and follow.
A proximity search forces a database to find results where one search term appears within a certain number of words of another search term.
The proximity operator varies according to the database. It is placed between the keywords/phrases in the same way as other combining operators. You can usually specify the number of words between the two terms.
The examples below are from EBSCOhost but the databases vary. If you want to use proximity searching you should check the database's Help section.
In any EBSCOhost database:
| If you enter, in the search box: | You will get: |
| bird OR avian N4 migrat* | Results where the word bird or avian occurs within 4 words of the word migrate, migration, migratory |
| "foraging behavio?r" N3 bird* | Results where the phrase "foraging behaviour" occurs within 3 words of bird or birds etc |
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