Electronic Searching Techniques

LEARNING ELECTRONIC SEARCHING TECHNIQUES BEFORE STARTING

USING BOOLEAN TO SEARCH
ELECTRONIC DATABASES BY KEYWORD

Note: See link to interactive tutorial below.

An important feature of online catalogs and electronic databases
is keyword searching. Keyword searching allows you to search
for a single word, a phrase, or a combination of words and phrases.

Examples:

drug abuse

drug abuse and athletes

Boolean logic - a query strategy for searching electronic databases. Boolean searches allow you to combine two or more search terms using the operators "and," "or," "not," and sometimes "near." Boolean operators allow you to expand or restrict your search by specifying the relationship of terms being searched. Parentheses may be used to sequence operations and group words.

And - requires all terms appear in a record. Use the Boolean operator "and" to narrow your search.

Example: China AND exports

This search will retrieve only items located
in the yellow area where the two circles overlap.

More examples for AND searches:

shakespeare and tragedy - retrieves material with both Shakespeare and tragedy anywhere in the same bibliographic record.

dallas cowboys and superbowl - retrieves bibliographic records containing both the phrase Dallas Cowboys and the word Superbowl.

rain forests and brazil - retrieves records with both the phrase rain forests and the country brazil.

Or - retrieves records with either term. Use the Boolean operator "or" to broaden your search.

Example: teens OR youth

This search will retrieve the all the items
located in both circles - the entire yellow area.

More examples for OR searches:

gun* or firearm - retrieves material that contains either term.

dallas cowboys or miami dolphins - retrieves material containing either team.

Not - excludes terms and retrieves material when the first term is desired but not the second term. Use not to exclude a word or phrase from your search. (Note: some databases use "and not.")

Example: computers NOT software

This search retrieves items only from the yellow area.
The pink area will be eliminated.

More examples for NOT searches:

superbowl not Dallas Cowboys - finds material containing superbowl but excludes any material with the phrase Dallas Cowboys.

cowboy* not football not Dallas - will lead you to information on the horse-riding variety of cowboys instead of the football team or players.

Truncation - gives you the ability to enter the first part of a keyword, insert a symbol (usually an *, sometimes a ? or $), and retrieve any variant spellings or word endings, from the occurrence of the symbol forward. Using a truncation symbol allows you to shorten or truncate your search term.

Examples:

femini* - retrieves feminine, feminism, feminism, feminist, etc.)

athlet*- retrieves the terms athlete, athletes, or athletics.

shake* - retrieves all material beginning with shake like Shakespeare, Shakespearean, Shakespeare’s, Shaker, Shakers, etc.

theat* - retrieves material on theater or theatre (alternative spellings)

Phrase - more than one keyword, searched exactly as keyed (all terms are required to be in documents, in the order keyed). Sometimes a phrase is called a "character string." Quotes are used to hold words together as a phrase.

Examples:

"eating disorders"

"seasonal affective disorder"

Nesting Examples:

dallas and (football or basketball)—retrieves information on either sport in Dallas.

(rain forest* or rainforest*) and (mexico or brazil)—retrieves material on the rainforests of either country.

(television and violen*) and (children or youth or adolescenc* or teen*) - retrieves material related to the effects of violent television on those under 21.

(add or attention deficit disorder) and adult* - retrieves sources concerning adults with attention deficit disorder.

television and (children or youth) - retrieves sources on the effects of television on children or youth.

(vietnam or vietnamese) not war - retrieves material on Vietnam but not the war.

"college students" and ("financial aid" or scholarships) - locates information on either financial aid or scholarships for college students.

(aids or hiv) and ("college students" or youth) not "high school students" will retrieve material on college students with aids or hiv, but will exclude material on high school students.

(multicultural or intercultural or diversity) and education - retrieves information on multicultural education.

("seasonal affective disorder" or "winter blues") and (mood or depression)-retrieves information on how seasons affect mood.

Proximity Searching - a way specifying that your search terms be found within a certain distance of each other. Use NEAR to indicate a proximity search.

Examples:

Troy near Aikman retrieves information on either Troy Aikman or Aikman, Troy.

art near history retrieves information on either art history or the history of art.

Try the interactive Boolean Tutorial on the Web - from New York University Libraries

MOD 1] [MOD 2] [MOD 3] [MOD 4] [MOD 5] [TABLE OF CONTENTS] [TUTORIAL HOME] [LIBRARY HOME]