Lawton: Resources for Your Papers

Each databases have hundreds of thousands of resources.  In order to find results that you want, your search terms to be specific.  Use these tips to search the databases:

• Combine keywords using AND for more precise results*.  If you use AND between your search terms, the database will only retrieve items that contain both search terms.  If you search for apples AND oranges, you'd see resources that are about apples and oranges.
• Combine keywords using OR for broader results*.  If you use OR between your search terms, the database will retrieve items that have one or the other search terms in them.  If you search for apples OR oranges, then you'd see resources that are about apples and other resources that are about oranges.   
• This is not used as much, but you can also insert NOT between your search terms to exclude a search term from your search*.  This can be useful.  For example, if you are writing a paper on apples but many of the articles you find are about apples and oranges, you can search apples NOT oranges and the database will exclude the term orange from your search, only retrieving articles on apples.  
• Use "quotation marks" to search for phrases.  Putting quotation marks around a multiple word search term, like "honey crisp apples," will only retrieve articles that contain that specific search term.
• If you are researching a particular topic like "teaching," you can place an asterisk (*) in your search term that will modify your search.  Your search term would be teach* and because you placed an asterisk at the end of teach, the search will find articles that have the word teach, teaching, teacher.  Placing an asterisk after the search term will retrieve the different forms of the word from the stem of the word teach. 
• Use the Advanced Search feature to combine search categories or terms, as well as limit by date, source type, format, etc.

*: AND, OR, and NOT are called Boolean operators or search operators.