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Creating Search Statements
Once you have your research question or research topic and have done some background research to learn more about your topic, use these strategies to get to the most relevant articles in the shortest amount of time.
Formatting Keywords
When typing words into a database or catalog search box, you want to be as precise as possible. Think of talking to a database as talking to a two-year-old. Just like a two-year-old, the database needs explicit instructions.
To best accomplish this, there are some key conventions to use when searching in databases:
(1) Nest related terms in parenthesis, using "OR" between them. This tells the database to look for any of those terms
ex. ("Covid 19" or coronavirus or pandemic)
(2) Put phrases (search terms of more than one word) in quotation marks. This tells the database to look for that exact phrase.
ex. ("amusement parks" OR "movie theaters" OR concerts)
(3) Link nested sets of related terms with AND. This tells the database to look for sources that have at least one term from each set.
ex. ("Covid 19" or coronavirus or pandemic) AND ("amusement parks" OR "movie theaters" OR concerts)