Finding Articles

Choose effective keywords

Write down your topic as a sentence or question to help clarify your ideas.

  • Example: Is it safe to eat genetically modified food?

Decide on the important ideas/concepts and choose keywords and/or phrases for the search.

Then, think of synonyms or terms that mean the same because different articles often use different terminology.

  •  Example: 'genetically modified'='genetically engineered'='genetically altered'  

This worksheet may help you build an effective strategy.

Use truncation

Save time and use the truncation symbol or wild card to retrieve variant word endings.

Remember, symbols vary - usually it's a *, but ?, :, or ! are also used. See the database's 'Help' or Quickguide to know for sure.

  • Example:  genetically modif*

Retrieves:

    • genetically modify
    • genetically modified
    • genetically modifying

Connect the keywords

Use OR to connect keywords that mean the same. This broadens your search.

  • Example: genetically modified OR genetically altered OR genetically engineered OR cloned

Retrieves:

    • any of these terms

Use AND to connect ideas/concepts together. Usually narrows your search.

  • Example: genetically modif* AND food

Retrieves:

    • all of these terms

Use parentheses ( ) around ORs when using a single search box.

  • Example: ( genetically modif* OR genetically engineered OR genetically altered OR cloned )

Retrieves:

    • any of these terms

Putting it all together...

food* AND safe* AND ( genetically modif* OR genetically engineered OR genetically altered OR cloned )

Too many results?

When your search brings back more results than you want, try these techniques available in almost all databases:

  • Use the database "limits" such as publication year, language or type of article (review article, scholarly article, etc.).
    • Easily eliminates number of results
  • Require one or more keywords to be in the article title.
    • When the keyword is in the title it means it a major focus of the article
    • In effect, this eliminates all the articles where the keyword concept is less important
  • Use Proximity Operators (near, adjacency) to require keywords are close together.
    • Terms have more relevance to each other because they are closer together
    • In effect, this eliminates all the articles where the keywords don't have meaning in relation to one another

Too few results?

When your search brings back fewer results than you want, try these techniques available in almost all databases:

  • Include more synonymous terms.
    • Makes search broader to catch articles that include terms that mean the same thing but aren't identical
    • Find more terms by looking at results
    • Connect the terms with OR and put parentheses ( ) around them
  • Separate phrases.
    • Combining terms with AND or Proximity Operators allows for words to come between the phrase or reverse the order of the words.
    • Example: genetic* AND modif* (instead of 'genetically modified') retrieves 'genetically modified' as well as 'modified using genetics'.
  • Use truncation.
    • By truncating a word, the database will search for all variations of the word's root.
    • Example:  genetically modif*

    Retrieves:

      • genetically modify
      • genetically modified
      • genetically modifying
  • Choose a different database.
    • Switches your search to another set of journals that may cover your topic better.
    • See Choose a database

Not the right results?

When your search results are about the topic but not the aspect you are looking for, try these techniques available in most databases:

  • Carefully examine the results.
    • Are the keywords in the title?
    • Are you using truncation effectively?
    • Would additional keywords or synonyms help target the focus you want?
    • Is there one good article? What keywords are used? What subjects have been assigned?
  • Choose a different database.
  • Ask a librarian for help