How to search databases

Identify concepts

Before you start searching, think about the main concepts or ideas that you are interested in.

If you have a research question, a good way to do this is to identify the following:

• Content or topic words
  These are the main focus, or subject, of the question. They are usually nouns. 
• Limiting words
  These constrain the scope, or limits, of your question. Common examples include: location, age groups, genders, socio-economic groups, etc.
• Linking words
  These describe the link between content words. Common examples include: benefits, disadvantages, influences, impact.
  You do not usually enter these words as search terms. This is because there are too many different ways authors might talk about these links. Instead, use them as a guide when deciding whether a resource will help answer your research question.
• Task words
  These tell you what you need to do. They are usually verbs. Common examples include: describe, discuss, explain, analyse, etc. 
  You do not use these words when searching databases - they are instructions for you to follow when answering the question. 

Let's look at an example.

You can also think about:

• What you already know about the topic (e.g. from your classes or textbook or readings).
• Any issues you want to focus on or learn more about.
• Any examples that you already know about.

Identify search terms

The concepts you identified above are the start of your search terms. 

You can start searching by just using these words - but you can get even better results if you also think about:

• Synonyms: words that mean the same thing, what different terminology authors might use for the same concepts
• Comparable terminology (location): how different countries or regions call the same thing (e.g. emergency department, A&E, emergency room)
• Comparable terminology (time): how language has changed over time (e.g. handicapped, people with a disability)
• Different spelling: e.g. between Australian English and American English (e.g. organisation, organization)
• Specific examples

Let's look at our example.

Use truncation to find variations of words

Truncation helps you search for different forms of words at the same time.

Most databases use an asterisk (*). Simply add the asterisk to the stem of the word you want to find variations of.

For example:

• engag* will find engage, engagement, and engaging
• Australia* will find Australia and Australian

Add quotation marks around phrases

If you want to find a specific phrase, with words together in a specific order, you can add double quotation marks around the words. 

For example:

• "online learning"
• "higher education"

If you do not use quotation marks, databases usually default to searching for each word individually. This means that it will pick up results where the words are used in different sentences or even paragraphs, making the results much less relevant. 

Combine your search terms together using connectors

Once you have your search terms, ready with appropriate use of truncation and quotation marks, you then need to tell the database how to combine these words together to get the information you want. 

The two most common connectors you will use are: AND and OR. You might also hear these called boolean operators. Each has a specific function. 
 

Let's look at our example again.

Apply filters

Once you get a list of results that match your search, you will usually see a list of filters or limits. 

These offer a way to focus the results. 

Common filters include:
 

Access the full text

When you browse the list of results, you will usually see your search terms highlighted - this gives you a quick indication of whether each result covers your topic. You can also open an abstract or summary of the result to get a better indication of whether it is relevant. 

When you come across a result that you want to read in full, look for ways to access the full text. 

You might see a link or button for the following:

• PDF or HTML
  This means that the database provide full access to the resource, which you can access straight away.
• findit@flinders
  Click on this to see if the Library provides access to the resource from another database. If it does, you will see links listed under the heading 'View Online'.

Follow clues to find more

When you click on a result, you will usually be taken to a page that contains information about the resource. 

This page provides lots of clues that you can follow to find additional resources on the same topic.