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LibGuides Subject Guide Template

A design template for creating new LibGuides. Add your own Guide description here. Make it descriptive, but short and sweet.

Research Tips

  • Start your research early. 
  • Read actively and critically.
  • Write as you go. 
  • Think about your sources and evaluate them thoroughly.
  • Ask your librarian for help navigating collections.
  • Document your sources carefully.
  • Use reference and secondary sources for background information and to situate your argument within a scholarly conversation.

Advanced Searching Techniques

Most databases support these techniques, but sometimes the syntax or symbol used varies. If in doubt, check the Help section of the database.

Search Technique

Symbol

Example

Retrieves

Phrase Searching

Useful when you have a string of words that must appear next to each other in your search statement. 

 

 Most search engines use quotation marks around phrases. “mad cow disease” Articles where the exact phrase "mad cow disease" is present.

Truncation

Allows you to search for variant endings of a word. Remember that when you search, the database is looking for an exact match for your term so using truncation can increase the flexibility of your search.


 

 Most databases use the asterisk however, some use a different symbol. Most notably, LexisNexis uses the exclamation point. parent* Articles with any of the following words: parent, parents, parenting, parental

Wildcards

Allows you to search for different variants of a word where the difference may be within the word as opposed to at the end of the word. This technique is most useful when searching for plurals that do not use an "s" (ex. woman vs. women) or when searching for articles in which there may be slightly different British spelling (ex. color vs. colour)

 

 Some databases use the asterisk; others use the question mark. Check the help section to determine which symbol is use. wom*n Articles that contain either the word woman or women.

Three Things to Remember!

When using article databases, remember there are always three stages in your workflow (the "three Ds"):

  1. Discovery: Do (and redo!) your searching, using varying terms and combining using the Boolean operators "AND, OR, NOT" to get good results. Your first search is not your best search, but rather an opportunity to learn how to immediately do a better search
  2. Delivery: For items that you like, select the link to the fulltext if available, or click on the button to see if we own the item. If you want to keep this item, either save it to your own computer, email it to yourself, or print it.
  3. Database it: Keep the "meta-information" about all that good resources you found for your records and to make your bibliographies. You will find yourself returning to resources so having a system in place will save you time and aggravation later. The NYU Libraries offer a number of tools to our users to help with this, in particular a tool called RefWorks, which you can learn about here.

Using Boolean Operators

Getting Started With Boolean

Using Boolean operators -- AND, OR, NOT -- is a great way to further refine your searches.

Boolean Operator

Search Example

Retrieves

Venn Diagram

AND

  • A good way to limit/refine your search.
  • Decreases your results.
 rivers AND salinity

Retrieves articles that contain
both the words river and salinity.

Venn diagram with two intersecting circles representing "rivers" and "salinity", where circles overlap, area is shaded blue.

OR

  • A good way to expand your search.
  • Useful if you have synonyms that
    you would like to search for.
  • Increases your results.

fruit OR vegetables

 

 Returns articles that contain
either the word fruits or vegetables.		 Venn diagram with two intersecting circles with one representing "fruit" and the other representing "vegetables"; the entire diagram is shaded in blue.

NOT

  • A good way to limit your search.
  • Allows you to exclude terms from
    your search results.
 fruit NOT apples Returns articles that contain
the word fruits but do not
contain the word apples.		 Venn diagram with two intersecting circles, one representing "fruit" and the other representing "apples"; only the section of the fruit circle not intersecting with the apples circle is shaded blue.

Advanced Boolean: Putting It All Together

In the above examples, we showed the use of Boolean operators with 2 search terms; however, you can join any number of terms with Boolean operators.

Parentheses!

In the examples below, you'll notice that we use parentheses to group search terms and operators. The parentheses tell the search engine how to read your search statement. Remember when you learned about order of operations in math and using parentheses? Same concept.

Search Example

Retrieves

Venn Diagram
Europe AND dairy products AND export

Articles that contain all of the following words: dairy products, Europe, and export.

 Venn diagram with three intersecting circles labeled: "dairy products", "Europe", and "export" where the area they circles intersect is shaded blue.
canoeing AND (kayaking OR sculling)

Articles that contain the both of the words canoeing and sculling;

also brings back articles that contain both of the words canoeing and kayaking.

 Venn diagram with three intersecting circles labeled with: "canoeing", "sculling", and "kayaking" where the area where canoeing & kayaking, sculling & canoeing, and all three intersect are shaded blue.
South America AND (puma OR panther) NOT Brazil

Articles that contain the terms South America and Puma;

articles that contain the terms South America and Panther.

Will not bring back articles with the term Brazil.

 Venn diagram with four intersecting circles labeled: "South America", "panther", "puma", and "Brazil" intersect. The blue shaded parts represent the intersection of: South America & panther, South America & puma, and South America & puma & panther.
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