ENGL 235: Technical Writing : Websites and search tips

Phrase Searching

Phrase searching works in almost all library databases and search engines! And remember, you just want to put quotation marks around specific phrases -- two or more words together -- and not entire sentences.

You also don’t need quotation marks around single words, like teens. Also, capitalization is NOT important, but SPELLING is.

Example below for the keyword phrase, "music therapy":

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Combining Keywords & Using Boolean Operators

Narrow down results by combining different keywords. Use Boolean operators (aka "Boolean logic") to combine keywords. 

AND:  

• Use AND to limit your search results
• Use AND to combine different concepts together
• Example:  "music therapy" AND benefits

OR:  

• Use OR to expand your search results
• Use OR with synonyms or related terms
• Example:  "music therapy" OR "music instruction" OR "music education"

NOT:

• Use NOT to exclude a word or phrase from your search results
• Example:  madonna NOT "virgin mary"

The image below shows an example search in a database:

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Truncating

Truncation means "to shorten," which can be useful to find variations of a word. Use an asterisk,*, following the root of the word to find all variations of that word, including singular and plural.

Example:  

• environment*

This finds environments, environmental, environmentalist, etc.

Database Example:

Truncating the word education* would find variations of that word, including education, educational, special education, etc.

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Using Filters to Limit Your Results

Look for ways to limit, or filter, your results from the beginning and SAVE TIME! These kinds of search limiters are usually found in the "Advanced Search" options of databases, like ProQuest or Academic Search Complete, as well as search engines like Google.

Full Text:

• Choosing this option returns only articles with the full text immediately available. Therefore, you can read the whole thing!

Publication Dates:

• In most databases and search engines, you can specify a date range of when sources were published or updated.

Peer-reviewed:

• Choosing this option returns only those articles from scholarly, or academic, sources.

Document Type:

• This looks at the kind of source you’re looking for, like magazines or newspaper articles.