Advanced Tips for Database Searching

I have really enjoyed learning how to do searches properly to get the information I need for research projects.

Searching a library database is all about combining keywords (search terms) in a way that the database can understand and that will retrieve the most relevant results. The combination of keywords is called a search statement. Keep in mind that a search statement that is fantastic in one database, may not be useful in another. This is one reason to have a robust list of potential keywords to interchange — some will work better in one database than another.

To become a savvy online searcher, use some commons search techniques that can be applied to almost any database or search engine. The techniques described below will enable you to effectively retrieve relevant information from databases. You will be learning about:

• Boolean Operators
• Truncation, Wildcards, & Phrases
• Limits & Filters

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators (or connectors) are one of the most important ways to combine keywords effectively when searching databases. Boolean operators link search terms together to either narrow or broaden your set of results. The three basic operators are AND, OR, and NOT.

Use AND in a search to:

• narrow your results
• tell the database that all search terms must be present in the results

Example: COVID-19 AND race AND disparities will only capture results that mention all of these terms.

Use OR in a search to:

• connect two or more similar concepts
• broaden your results
• tell you the database that any of the search terms can be present in the results

Example: COVID-19 OR coronavirus OR pandemic will capture results that mention any of these terms.

Use NOT in a search to:

• exclude words from your search
• narrow your search
• tell the database to ignore concepts that may be implied by your search terms

Example: morbidity NOT mortality will capture all results that mention morbidity minus any results that mention mortality.

Truncation, Wildcards & Phrases

Truncation

Truncation is a technique that broadens searches to include various word endings and spellings. To use truncation in a search, 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. It is best not to use truncation on a keyword that has a very common root since this will likely yield irrelevant variations (e.g. rac* = race, racetrack, racial, racism, rack, raconteur, etc.).

Example: child* = child, child’s, children, children’s, childhood

Wildcards

Wildcards substitute a symbol for one letter in a word. This is useful if a word is spelled in different ways, but still has the same meaning.

Example 1: wom!n = woman, women

Example 2: colo?r = color, colour

Preferred truncation and wildcard symbols vary by database, but common symbols include *, !, ?, #. For assistance identifying a resource’s preferred truncation symbol, look for the resource’s “Help” documentation, or contact a librarian using UW Libraries’ AskUs chat service.

Phrase

Phrase searching allows you to specify that adjacent words be searched together instead of as single words. To do this, use parentheses or quotes around search words.

Example: “genetic engineering” will return only results that contain this exact and entire phrase.

Limits & Filters

Limiters and filters allow you to narrow the focus of your search so that the information retrieved is limited according to the values you select. Each database will vary slightly, but all will have a variation of options to limit your search. Limiters can be commonly found in Advanced Search settings, as well as on the left or right side of the search results.

Common filters include:

• Full-text: selecting this filter will retrieve only results with full-text available within the database
• Source/document type: academic journals, magazine, newspaper, trade publications, etc
• Peer-reviewed: will retrieve only items that have been peer-reviewed
• Date published: use this option for materials published within a specific date range
• Subject: some databases will give you options for narrowing your search within a specific field of study

Search Example

Combine keywords with boolean operators and truncation to create search statements to use in a database. If there is only a single search box then use parentheses when using the OR operator.

Example: covid-19 AND (race OR racial OR ethnic) AND (dispari* or differen*)

The same search using the Advanced Search option in Academic Search Complete with the peer-reviewed, document type and language limits: