PHYS 4951 - Senior Seminar: Searching Professional Databases

One of the first steps in creating a research plan is to select search terms or keywords which best describe the topic you plan to research. When choosing keywords for a search, it's a great idea to also include related terms, terms that are more general (broader), and terms that are more specific (narrower) to improve your chances for success. As a simple example:

Key word: cat

• related terms: house cat, kitten
• broader terms: pet, feline
• narrower term: Felis catus

Sources for relevant key words include:

• class materials, including textbooks, handouts, presentations, and lectures
• database subject heading lists and thesauri
• abstract, text, and references from related articles
• drop-down menus in search bars
• online and print thesauri

If you are unfamiliar with the terminology you encounter while searching article databases (or while reading articles in journals) you may wish to consult reference materials such as textbooks, dictionaries, and other authoritative resources in the field of study.

Contact your instructor if you are unsure if a search term is appropriate to your topic. It is usually wise to make sure you are on target with your topic and terminology before you invest much time researching a project.

There is a lot of content in this box, be sure to scroll down for additional tips/techniques.

• Before you begin, prepare a list of search terms (key words), including alternate options in case your original search produces limited results.  Use the "Subject Headings" or "Thesaurus" feature for the database you are searching to help develop effective search terms.
• Explore any search tips or help screens provided by the database.  Even experienced researchers (like professors and librarians!) can struggle with a new interface. Take the time to learn how to use the tool (database/print resource) -- it will help avoid frustration later.
• Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) are useful tools for enhancing and refining your searches.
  • Use AND to focus your search and combine different aspects of your topic.
    • Example: global warming AND agriculture will return only those articles that contain both terms.
  • Use OR to expand your search and find synonyms/related terms.
    • Example: global warming OR greenhouse effect with return any article that contains one or both terms.
  • Use NOT to exclude a word or phrase from your search.
    • Example: agriculture NOT soybean will return articles on every form of agriculture except soybean.
• Phrase searching uses quotation marks (") to search for an exact phrase. 
  • Example: "greenhouse gas emissions" will only return articles containing the entire, exact phrase, in the order given.
• Wildcards and Truncation expand a search to include variations in spelling or alternate word endings.
  • Wildcards use a question mark (?) or a pound sign (#) to search for alternate spellings.
    • To use the ? wildcard, replace an unknown character in your search term with a ?.
      • Example: ne?t would retrieve articles containing neat, nest, next, or newt.
    • To use the # wildcard, place a # in places where an alternate spelling may contain an extra character.
      • Example: colo#r would retrieve articles containing color or colour.
  • Use an asterisk (*) to find alternate word endings. Place an asterisk after the root of a word to find all variations of that word (including singular/plural).
    • Example: biolog* will retrieve documents containing the words biology, biological, biologist . . .
• Search Strings combine Boolean Operators with parentheses to group similar/complementary terms together to within parentheses to expand and/or refine a search
  • Example: Saturn NOT (automobile OR vehicle OR car) will return articles on Saturn, the planet, not Saturn, the car manufacturer.
• Proximity Operators allow you to search for two or more words that occur within a specified number of words of each other in an article.
  • Proximity operators place the letter N or W and a number between the words of a search phrase or string to limit the number of words allowed between the terms in search results. The number is determined by the searcher.
    • Near Operator (N) searches for terms within N (a set number) of each other, regardless of the order in which they are entered.
      • Example: tax N5 reform will return results that have the term tax with five (5) words of the term reform, in any order, such as tax reform and reform of income tax.
    • Within Operator (W) searches for terms within W (a set number) of each other, only in the order in which they are entered.
      • Example, tax W3 reform will return results that have the term tax within three (3) words of the term reform, in that order, such as tax administration reform, but would not return reform of income tax.
• These tools can be combined into complex Search Strings to further refine search results. Remember that it is always better to start with simple searches then use these search tools carefully and cautiously as you develop your concepts, to avoid over-limiting your results and excluding valuable resources from your results.
  • Example: (baseball OR football OR basketball) N5 (teams OR players)
  • Example: "crude oil" W3 (disaster AND cleanup)
• Don't forget to contact your friendly librarian if you need assistance; contact information for this guide is on the right. To contact a librarian who specializes in your field of study, see the link below.

If you need a better understanding of using Boolean Operators in your searches, here are some additional resources:

Scholarly Versus Popular

While Wikipedia, Google, and AI chatbots (like ChatGPT) can sometimes be good starting points for research -- as they can help familiarize you with terminology and concepts related to your topic -- they are not considered "scholarly" and cannot be used as authoritative resources for your assignments.  If you are struggling to distinguish between peer-reviewed, scholarly journals and trade publications or popular magazines, these links can help explain the differences:  

Research Versus Review

It is also important to be able to distinguish between research articles and review articles. A research article is designed to present new research, methods, and/or findings, and often employs the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Research, and Discussion) format. A review article’s primary purpose is to summarize, analyze, discuss, and provide an overview of previously published work on a topic, not to present new research. Below are a few articles of interest on this topic:

From chapter 1 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition (2009):

Journal articles are usually chronicles of empirical studies, literature reviews, theoretical articles, methodological articles, or case studies.

Categories of Journal Articles:

• Empirical Studies- Publishes original research, including secondary analyses that test hypotheses by presenting novel analyses of data not considered or addressed previously. Includes an introduction, method of study, results, and discussion.
• Literature Reviews - Critically evaluates material that has already been published. Authors of literature reviews organize, integrate and evaluate previously published material and consider the progress of research in clarifying a problem.
• Theoretical Articles - Draws on existing research to advance theory. Traces the development of theory and expands and refines theoretical constructs.
• Methodological Articles - Presents new approaches and methods, or modifications of existing methods, of research to the academic community.
• Case Studies - Reports case materials obtained by working with an individual, group, community or organization. Case studies generally illustrate a problem and indicate a means of solving the problem.
• Other Types of Articles - May include brief reports, commentary, replies on previously published articles, book reviews, obituaries, letter to the editor, etc.

Have you tried...

• developing a list of potential search terms, with narrower, broader, and alternate options?
• searching the database's list of subject headings or thesaurus for additional search terms?
• using Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) to expand or refine your search?
• using quotations to search for a specific phrase?   
• using truncation (*) to search all related word forms? Example: psych* = psychology, psychological, psychologists, etc.
• contacting your friendly librarian for assistance?