(Re)Searching is a process involving multiple steps.
All the (re)searching steps are important and connected.
And it's normal and okay to adjust and revaluate the each step if you find your (re)searching in trouble.
Connecting terms for better results.
Often databases will have the option to use connecting terms like and, or, not in your keyword search. There words help narrow, widen and bring back relevant results.
| And | Connects keywords, narrowing your results to sources that have both words and phrases | Folic acid and deficien |
| Or | Separates keywords, widening your results to sources that have either keyword | folic acid or folate |
| Not | Excludes keywords, bringing results back focused just on the first keyword | tap water not purified |
| "Quotation Marks" | Sometimes your keywords will be two or more words, like time management or community college. In that case, use quotation marks around them to bring back results with those exact words, together, in that order. |
"heart attack "carbon monoxide" |
Try the following techniques to make your searches even more dynamic.
Phrase Searches
Often keywords are more than one word. Most search engines let you put quotation marks around these so only results with the exact phrase are listed.
"heart attack"
"carbon monoxide"
Truncation
Shortening a keyword to its basic root and adding a special character (usually an asterisk "*" or "?") at the end will tell the computer to search for variations on the word.
Searching for molecul* will find:
MOLECULE, MOLECULES, MOLECULAR
Note: Check the search engine help screens to see if this can be done. It's most common on subscription databases.
Parentheses
Combines concepts and techniques. The search engine will search for what's grouped or nested inside the parentheses first.
("folic acid" OR folate) AND deficien*