Advanced researching in databases

Advanced Databases and Search Techniques

This document will help you discover how to find additional databases by subject area, as well as how to search more effectively.

Advanced Database Searching

Databases for every search!

Carthage subscribes to a number of databases and it can be very confusing to a new user about which ones to use. A good answer is to start with several of our general journal databases that cover a variety of disciplines, combine a combination of peer reviewed and full text articles, and helps the user read about the arguments or issues before develing further into our other databases. The general three databases that everyone should look at are Academic OneFile, Academic Search Elite, and Sage Premier

Using Subject Specific Databases

After you have looked at the three general databases, you may want to go on to a database that is specifically targeted too your subject area, such as education, business, or music. To find out which journal databases we have by subject, you should go the databases by subject link which can be found under the Finding Journal Articles link on the library page.

http://www.carthage.edu/ais/library/jourbysubj.htm

Advanced Search Techniques

Number of records is too big or too small.

Too many items returned: Means you have to narrow your search. Think a little more carefully about what you want to pinpoint. For example, the search "China and Economy" might produce thousands of records, quite a few to look through! You may want to narrow your search by using a few more terms, such as "China and Economy and Energy" or "China and Economy and Oil".

Not enough items returned: You may have to broaden your search, check your spelling, or use different terms. For example, a search such as "China and Economy and Energy and Pollution and Drinking Water" might be too narrow. All the terms might relate to each other, but you have to search them a bit differently to get your results

Look at the subject decriptors for your articles.

Once you find an article or book that hits very close to your topic, make sure you look at how the database has officially indexed that item. Most of the searching that we do is by keyword, meaning we search the entire record for those search terms. However, databases will group like items together by using subject terms. You can either click on those subject terms to go to "like" records or you can use those terms back in the search fields. Make sure to write down these subject terms in your research notes, and when you move onto other databases try using these terms, it will probably save you time!

Using Wildcards in you searches (from Academic OneFile)

Wildcards

Sometimes you might want to find more than just exact matches to a search term. Wildcards let you substitute symbols for one or more letters.

With wildcards, you can match

both the singular and plural forms of a word
words that begin with the same root
words that can be spelled in different ways

You can even match words that you're not sure how to spell!

There are three wildcard operators:

*	An asterisk () stands for any number of characters, including none, and is especially useful when you want to find all words that share the same root. For example, pigment matches pigment, pigments, pigmentation, etc. Note that you must enter at least three (3) non-wildcard characters. So a search on o* is not allowed; rather you need to enter: oba*. An asterisk can also be used within a word, but the other wildcards are more precise for this kind of use.
?	A question mark (?) stands for exactly one character and is especially useful when you're uncertain of a spelling. For example, a search like relev?nce means you can match the word relevance even if, like many of us, you can't remember whether it's spelled with ance or ence. A question mark is also useful for finding certain words with variant spellings. For example, defen?e finds both defense (American) and defence (British and Canadian). Multiple question marks in a row stand for the same number of characters as there are question marks. For example, psych????y matches either psychology or psychiatry but not psychotherapy.
!	An exclamation point (!) stands for one or no characters and is especially useful when you want to match the singular and plural of a word but not other forms. For example, product! matches product and products but not productive or productivity. The exclamation point can also be used inside a word to match certain variant spellings. For example, colo!r matches both color (American) and colour (British).

Using Boolean Operators (HelpFile from Academic Search Elite)

Saving your information

Booleans

Boolean logic defines logical relationships between terms in a search. The Boolean search operators are and, or and not. You can use these operators to create a very broad or very narrow search.

And combines search terms so that each search result contains all of the terms. For example, travel and Europe finds articles that contain both travel and Europe.
Or combines search terms so that each search result contains at least one of the terms. For example, college or university finds results that contain either college or university.
Not excludes terms so that each search result does not contain any of the terms that follow it. For example, television not cable finds results that contain television but not cable.

Note: When executing a search, And takes precedence over Or.

The following table illustrates the operation of Boolean terms:

And	Or	Not
Each result contains all search terms.	Each result contains at least one search term.	Results do not contain the specified terms.
The search heart and lung finds items that contain both heart and lung.	The search heart or lung finds items that contain either heart or items that contain lung.	The search heart not lung finds items that contain heart but do not contain lung.

Using Booleans and Parentheses

To make even better use of Boolean operators, you can use parentheses to nest query terms within other query terms.

You can enclose search terms and their operators in parentheses to specify the order in which they are interpreted. Information within parentheses is read first, then information outside parentheses is read next. For example,

When you enter (mouse OR rat) AND trap, the search engine retrieves results containing the word mouse or the word rat together with the word trap in the fields searched by default.

If there are nested parentheses, the search engine processes the innermost parenthetical expression first, then the next, and so on until the entire query has been interpreted. For example,

((mouse OR rat) AND trap) OR mousetrap

Using Booleans When Phrase Searching

When Boolean operators are contained within a phrase that is enclosed in quotation marks, the operator is treated as a stop word. When this is the case, any single word will be searched for in its place.

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