Library: How to Search Databases: Search Strategies

Search Strategies

Boil your topic down to the most important words. Ignore superfluous words like in, the of, with, against, affect, impact. Begin with a keyword search.
Put a "different piece" of your topic in a separate search box, if available. Using the topic of covenant theology as it applies to the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, each different piece of the topic is entered into a separate line.

Remember to limit your search to Full-text to see results that you can access and download as a pdf.

Too many results? Focus your search by searching for your keywords in the ABSTRACT Field or TITLE field, or by using "an exact phrase" search.
Too few results? Think of synonyms and add them to your search using OR -- keep your synonyms in the same search box.
When revewing your results, look for relevant "subject" or "descriptor" words. Find subject terms either on the results page, or at the end of individual records. Write down relevant subject terms that you find.
Go back to the search screen and use the subject terms you discovered. Search the subject terms by changing the descriptor field to "SU Subject Terms."

Operator	Example	Result
AND	business AND ethics cooking AND Spain	Retrieves records th at contain ALL of the search terms.
OR	hotels OR motels www OR world wide web theater OR theatre	Retrieves records that contain ANY of the search terms, but does not necessarily include all of them.
NOT	java NOT coffee Clinton NOT (William OR Bill)	Excludes records containing the second search term.