Use the tips below to help improve your searching. By applying these techniques, you can increase, reduce or improve the relevancy of your search results, making it easier to access the right materials.
Top Tips:
Be flexible. If a search doesn't give you relevant results, try using different keywords.
Identify alternative keywords (synonyms).
Too many results - Use more specific or the most relevant keywords.
Too few results - Use synonyms, related terms, broader terms. Add in terms of related meaning with OR.
The screenshot below illustrates field searching in the Business Source Complete database.
Note the wide choice of fields and how you can search across multiple fields for relevant content. As Business Source Complete holds business related information it has a number of fields appropriate to that discipline. You will find different fields in databases from other disciplines.
Records in library catalogues and online databases are made up of fields containing pieces of bibliographic information which describe the item in details.
Fields differ between databases, but common fields include:
Field searching makes your search more focused and can be useful if you are overwhelmed by search results.
If you do not use field searching, databases usually run a keyword search against the full database record, leading to a very wide search. This may vary in different databases, check the Help section for full details.
For example, a keyword search for William Shakespeare will find items authored by William Shakespeare but also items that are about Shakespeare and his work. An Author Search for William Shakespeare would be a more limited search.
You will usually need to use the Advanced Search option to easily access the field searching options.
You can combine multiple fields using the boolean AND, OR, NOT operators.
Truncation is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings.
To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the end.
The database will return results that include any ending of that root word.
Use it with care to avoid finding too many alternatives.
The asterisk * symbol is most commonly used for truncation. However, check out the Help sections as !, ?, or # may also be used.
For example:
entrepreneur* will find entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial, etc.
nurs* will find nurse, nurses, nursing, nursed, etc.
Wildcards are similar to truncation, but they are used to substitute for a single letter or no letter in a word.
They broaden your search by including variant word spellings.
The question mark symbol is most commonly used. However, check out the help screens as ! , *, or # may also be used.
For example:
wom?n will find woman and women
optimi?ation will find optimisation and optimization
model?ing will find modeling and modelling
Finds words within x number of words from each other, in the order they were entered.
Example: climate w2 crisis
Would find climate change crisis and climate change crisis
Finds words within x number of words from each other. Words may appear in any order.
Substitute the x with a number of words that may appear in between
NEARx5 would be likely to be in the same sentence; NEARx50 in the same paragraph
Example: election* n5 parliament*
Would find parliamentary elections and election to Parliament
Would not find 'election debates can be very confrontational and hard fought, especially those between parliamentary candidates'
Phrase searching is the most limiting technique as it is used to specify that your terms must appear next to each other and in the order you specify.
Phrase searching is commonly achieved by surrounding your phrase with quotation marks.
Always check the Database Help screens, as some databases may use different symbols.
Phrase searching examples:
"World Health Organization"
"gender equality"
"social justice"
Finds words within x number of words from each other, in the order they were entered.
Example: climate w2 crisis
Would find climate crisis and climate change crisis
Finds words within x number of words from each other. Words may appear in any order.
Substitute the x with a number of words that may appear in between
NEARx5 would be likely to be in the same sentence; NEARx50 in the same paragraph
Example: election* n5 parliament*
Would find parliamentary elections and election to Parliament
Would not find 'election debates can be very confrontational and hard fought, especially those between parliamentary candidates'