Frisco Landing Library
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Your subject librarian is here to help! If you have any questions about finding or accessing library resources, don't hesitate to reach out to the College of Applied and Collaborative Studies subject librarian Emily Murley.
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Six Steps to Smart Searching
These advanced search strategies will work when searching in the UNT Library Catalog as well as many other common databases and search engines.
Identify the keywords in your research question.
Keywords are words that carry content and meaning. The keywords in the research question "What is the feeding range of the blue whale in the Pacific Ocean?" are feeding range, blue whale and Pacific Ocean.
Brainstorm synonyms for your keywords.
Think of words similar to your keywords in case a database doesn't use your original keywords. Synonyms for blue whale are baleen whale and Balaenoptera musculus.
When you don't know synonyms for your topic keywords, you can use online dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference books to find them. These databases are great places to find keyword synonyms.
- Credo referenceCredo Reference offers full-text, aggregated content which covers every major subject from the world's best publishers of reference. Patrons gain access to over 3,400,000 entries, from over 675 reference books, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, etc. Dates of Coverage: Current
- Gale Virtual Reference LibraryGale Virtual Reference Library Selected reference ebooks on Business, environment, history, literature, medicine, multicultural studies, religion, science, and social science. Includes Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English, Encyclopedia of Science & Religion, Encyclopedia of Science Technology & Ethics, Encyclopedia of Sociology, Gale Encyclopedia of Neurological Disorders, and World of Forensic Science and others. Dates of Coverage: Varies with publication
Create Boolean searches using the keywords.
A Boolean search is a search using the words AND, OR and NOT between the keywords. These words have a special function when used in a database.
- The search [blue whale AND Pacific Ocean] will find all of the articles that contain both words. AND makes your search narrower.
- The search [blue whale OR Balaenoptera musculus] will find all articles that contain one word, or the other, or both. OR is placed between synonyms and makes your search broader.
- The search [blue whale NOT Atlantic Ocean] will find all articles containing "blue whale" and exclude the articles that also contain "Atlantic Ocean." NOT excludes articles that you don't want.
Use the truncation symbol (or wildcard symbol) to search for word variations.
You can avoid doing multiple searches for variations on word endings using the truncation symbol * (the asterisk) in most databases. Entering the keyword "blue whale*" will look for both blue whale and blue whales.
Add keywords to limit the type of article you retrieve.
If you want a literature review, add "AND review" to your keywords. To find a research study, add "AND study" to your keywords.
Enter your Boolean searches in the Advanced Search of a database.
Always go to the Advanced Search in a database to enter your Boolean searches because it gives you multiple boxes with the Boolean operators between them. If you are using a search with multiple search strings, enter OR within the search boxes and AND between the search boxes, e.g., [blue whale OR Balaenoptera musculus] AND [feeding range OR feeding grounds] AND [Pacific Ocean].