Use the tips below to make your database or web searching more precise.
General tips that work in most database searches
- Quotation marks can be used to search for an exact phrase. For example, if you search with quotation marks (e.g., "medical error"), your search finds results only with that exact phrase. A search for the phrase without quotation marks retrieves results that may include those two words anywhere in the record, even if they are not ordered in the way you searched for them.
- An asterisk (*) is a truncation symbol that can be used to search for multiple endings to a word at the same time. For example, math*, searches for math, mathematics, and mathematical.
- A question mark (?) is a wildcard symbol that can replace a letter in a word. This is helpful when there are variations in how a word is spelled. For example, British English often uses an “s” while American English uses a “z.” Searching for psychoanaly?e searches for both psychoanalyze and psychoanalyse.
- Boolean operators (i.e., AND, OR, and NOT) can be used to combine your terms to return exactly the combinations of keywords you want. Some databases will have different search boxes with drop-down choices showing ways to combine your terms.
- AND: displays results that contain all of the desired keywords (e.g., cats AND dogs).
- OR: displays results with at least one of the desired keywords (e.g., cats OR dogs).
- NOT: displays results that do not contain a keyword (e.g., cats NOT dogs).
- Putting parentheses around sets of Boolean operators allows you to combine them in precise ways. For example, you could create a search for “(cats AND dogs) AND (lions OR tigers) NOT bears” that will return records that contain cats, dogs, and either lions or tigers, but that also do not contain bears.
- Many search engines and databases offer filters that can help you limit your search by content type, discipline, date, online availability, or subject.
- Search with keywords rather than typing out a full question. Searching for “dogs lions friendship” can return more specific results than “can a dog and a lion be friends?” All of the words that you include in your search will be used to find matching content. Too many words can limit your results.
- Use words that a professional would use to describe what you are looking for. Instead of “my head hurts” or “why is my head killing me,” search for “headache.”
Web search tips
While the web is not always tailored to academic research, you may still find valuable resources through search engines (i.e., Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo). It may take several attempts to find the right keywords for your search to return the results you want. Be patient and persistent.
- Keep it simple! Start by typing the name of a thing, place, or concept that you are looking for.
- puppies and "training tips"
- London and "dinner cruises"
- "pasta recipe"
- Add relevant words if you do not retrieve pertinent results.
- First try: puppy
- More precise: "puppy training"
- Even more precise: "dalmatian pupp*" AND "obedience training"
Certain search engines have shortcuts built in to make precise searching easier. Below is a list of shortcuts you can use when searching with Google.
- A dash (-) will exclude a word from a search. Tesla -car will exclude results that include car.
- Two periods (..) can be used to search for a numerical range. Searching 2000..2004 will return results that include 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. You can use this for dates, prices, and measurements, etc. (e.g., tablet 7..10 inches).
- Adding site: and the URL of a website will search within that website. Searching graduation site:unr.edu returns only instances on the UNR website where the word graduation appears.
- You can use either before: or after: with a date to search for things before or after that date (e.g., pandemics before:2019).
- You can specify the format of your results using filetype: and a given file extension like PDF or PPXT (e.g., filetype:pdf).