Searching in library databases is often a very different experience than searching Google or other search engines. Use these tips to make the most of your searching.
Multiple Key Words or Phrases: Place in separate boxes or separate by Boolean operators. Don’t string them together all on one line as you would in Google.
Phrase Search: Phrase searching allows you to search for specific sequences of words as a phrase. This is useful when searching for specific terms or concepts.
For example: "protein folding" "enzyme catalysis"
Truncation: Add an asterisk * to the end of a term to retrieve results with multiple endings
For example: enzym* will retrieve results containing enzyme, enzymes, enzymatic, enzymology, etc.
Boolean Operators can help you expand or narrow your search
AND: ("protein structure" AND function) Narrows your search so that only records containing both search terms come back to you.
OR: ("protein synthesis" OR translation) Broadens your search so that all records containing either term come back to you. Useful for terms with common synonyms.
NOT: (“protein expression" NOT "gene therapy") Narrows your search so that only records that contain the first term and not the second term come back to you.
NOTE: If you are putting all your keywords in one box, use parentheses to keep terms grouped
Example: (inhibition OR "drug target") NOT "cancer"
You can combine as many of these techniques as you want in the same search!
Example: ("cell signaling" AND "signal transduction") AND ("G protein-coupled receptors" OR GPCR) NOT "immune response"
This search finds research on cell signaling and signal transduction specifically related to GPCRs but excludes studies related to immune responses.
Successful searching in Google and other search engines requires a slightly different approach to successful searching in library databases. Use these tips to make the most of your searching time.
The more terms you enter, the more focused and specific your results will be. (You don't need to use AND to connect your search terms, like you would in a library database)
protein folding
protein folding misfolding
protein folding misfolding diseases neurodegeneration
Most search engines don't support truncation (*), but they do support OR and parentheses:
("enzyme kinetics" OR "reaction rate")
Use quotation marks around a phrase to find those exact words, in that exact order.
"enzyme inhibition" "cell signaling pathways"
Use AROUND and numbers in parentheses for proximity searching, which finds words or phrases within a certain number of words of each other on a page. These results will likely discuss both concepts closely:
"protein folding" AROUND(5) "misfolding"
Different authors and sources may use different language to talk about the same thing. As you are doing your searching, make a note of what keywords worked well and where. For example, more scholarly terms might work best when searching scholarly literature and common, non-technical terms might work best when doing general internet searching.
To identify keywords for your topic, look to a reference source like an encyclopedia or even Wikipedia and make lists of terms used in the articles. Also be sure you're paying attention to the keywords listed in the databases and articles you're using.