Conducting Effective Searches

Once you have a list of possible search terms, you need to figure out the best way to combine the terms to develop the most effective search strategy that will get you to the most appropriate articles as quickly as possible.

• Search for words as phrases by enclosing them in quotation marks
  • Examples: 
    "classroom management"
    "genetic engineering"

• Narrow a search by using AND
  This command tells the database that you only want to see articles that contain all of the words somewhere in the title, abstract, or subjects of the article's record
  • Example: 
    communication
    AND
    cross-cultural
    AND
    workplace
    AND
    improve
• Narrow a search by using NOT
  • Example:
    vikings
    NOT
    football
• Broaden a search by using OR
  This command tells the database that you would like to see articles that contain any of the words somewhere in the title, abstract, or subjects of the article's record
  • Example: 
    communication OR conversation OR correspondence

• Broaden a search by using Truncation/Wildcards 
  ​​​​​​​This technique allows you to retrieve different forms of a word
  • Examples: 
    ethic*        =   ethic, ethics, ethical, ethically
    teen*        =   teen, teens, teenager, teenagers
    wom*n     =   woman, women

• Combine the various strategies:

Did a colleague tell you about a great book you should read, or did you see an interesting article listed in a bibliography and would like to track it down?

The Advanced Search of many research databases provides the option of placing searches for specific authors and/or titles.