Elizabeth's Reusable Content: Searching Tips and Tricks

This page is intended to give you some hints to help you put together a search for various databases. The search strategies in it are just the beginning of creating a sophisticated search for information. For more information, check out the full Search Strategies Guide linked in the Quick Links box.

Keywords are words or phrases that describe your research topic. They are used to search for information in the catalog or in databases. When searching for information, you want to employ a variety of search terms because there are multiple ways of describing the same topic.

Start with a question that summarizes and focuses your research topic and identify key concepts associated with the question. Then, generate a list of synonyms and related terms. 

Example: "How does Copland use rhythm to suggest speech even in instrumental music?"

Identify synonyms for key concepts.

Identify related concepts: (to rhythm) lyrical, flowing, weak/strong; (to instrumental music) duo, Appalacian Spring...

Most databases add the Boolean operator AND between each word you type. In order to search for a phrase, put quotation marks around it.

"instrumental music" = phrase instrumental music

instrumental music = instrumental AND music (the two words are not necessarily related).

Using a truncation symbol allows you to search for alternative word endings.

For example, rhythm* searches rhythm, rhythmic, and rhythmical at the same time.

The truncation symbol is often the asterisk. However, some databases use other symbols. Use the help option in the database or ask a librarian to check on which symbol to use.

Using a wildcard symbol allows you to search for alternative spellings within a word.

Wildcards can replace one character.  For example, wom?n searches women and woman.

A different symbol may be used to replace more than one letter or to accommodate spellings where a character may or may not be present. For example, colo#r searches color or colour.

ESCOhost databases use the wildcard symbols above. Other databases may use different symbols. Use the help option in the database or ask a librarian to check on which symbol to use.

Boolean operators or connectors are tools that allow you to narrow or broaden your search.

AND
Using AND between your search terms will narrow your search.  For example, searching Copland AND rhythm will find resources with both terms, giving you more specific results. You can keep adding terms with AND to conduct more narrow searches: Coplan AND rhythm AND instrumental music AND speech.

OR
Using OR between your search terms will broaden your search.  The OR operator is useful when a term has a frequently used synonym. Examples: Instrumental music OR chamber music; rhythm OR pulse, speech OR lyrics. Conducting a search using the OR operator will find resources with either term, giving more results.

NOT
Using NOT between your search terms will narrow your search. NOT allows you to exclude a word or phrase from your search. For example, instrumental music NOT orchestral will find resources on instrumental music but exclude information about orchestral music (or any other record that even mentions orchestral).

Google vs. Google Scholar

Google is a well known search engine that add almost anything it can find on the web in its search results. The disadvantage in using Google in a literature search should be obvious - it gets lots of information of very dubitable quality.

Google Scholar is also well known and heavily used. It should not be ignored but neither should it be your first resource. Google Scholar looks specifically for papers, books, conference presentations, etc. BUT it still does not distinguish between scholarly and not.

Ranking of results - Google uses a very complex algorithm to determine the order of the results it will list. The problem is that only some Google employees know the algorithm. In some informal research, people have found that articles with lots of citations to them do show up at the top of the list but so do articles that very few people have ever cited and that are, therefore, likely to be less important.

Literature Databases vs. Google Scholar

Literature databases such as SocIndex use published criteria to determine the publications it is going to index. The database will often distinguish between types of literature so you can look specifically for peer-reviewed articles or theses and dissertations if that is what you need. The search engines for databases are designed by experts - usually librarians. These database search engines have been designed to help you create sophisticated searches that will help you get to the literature you want and have to look at relatively little irrelevant literature.

Key to a successful literature search

Use multiple databases. Use all the databases that you have access to that might contain information on your topic. You can certainly include Google Scholar in that list, but you must spend more time and effort evaluating your results from Google Scholar than from other databases where there are experts evaluating what goes into the database in the first place.

You can look for books in the two search boxes below. The catalog search box searches Briggs Library's catalog for those books that we own. The WorldCat search box searches thousands of libraries around the world.

Tips for searching for books

• Encyclopedias give good background information on a topic
• You are not likely to be writing a book yourself at this stage of your education so if you find a whole book on your topic you need to narrow your topic
  • Look at the chapters of the book on your topic for ways to narrow your topic down
• Many books have their tables of contents in the record in the catalog so you may find books with a chapter on your topic
• Many books do not have their tables of contents in the record so you might have to think of broader subjects that your topic might be found in
• We can get books from other libraries but only if you do your research ahead of time
  • This is called Interlibrary Loan and is described in the box to the right
  • Books from other libraries can take a week or more to arive at Briggs Library