BIOL 415/416/420: Research and Readings

Understanding what you should type in the search box of any search engine/database is always harder than it sounds. It seems like it should be simple - like pulling on your socks in the morning - but in truth taking an abstract-length concept and distilling it down to just 3 or 4 keywords is actually very difficult! 

When brainstorming for keywords, consider Googling synonyms, related terms, and subtopics related to your research question. You will also find more potential keywords as you search through the literature.

The resources below were created to give you some tips and tricks and pointers about how to refine your searching such that you get exactly the sort of results you are looking for without having to wade through lots of irrelevant search results that have no relevance to you.

Booleans: AND, OR, NOT

• AND combines search words together. Both words must appear, narrowing your results.
• OR allows you to search for synonyms or like terms. Only one of the terms need appear, broadening your results.
• NOT removes a specific term.

Quotation marks

• Phrases stick together as one keyphrase. "climate change"; "blue whale"; "Cretaceous period"

Asterisks

• Add to the end of a word to find words stemming from that root. volcan* - volcanology, volcano, volcanic, volcanism

Limiters

• Usually found on the left
• Narrow by subject, date, geography, language, or peer-reviewed
• Play around with different combinations of limiters, keywords, and search strategies!

• Phrase Searching:

• Boolean Operators: