Social Work, Eugene campus

When you use a search box, there are strategies to use to help retrieve the type of results you want/need. Below are the most common strategies to use.

• "social media" "college students" cyberbull* (Note: databases/search engines process searches with an implied AND between keywords unless instructed otherwise.)
• microbiom* fungi*
• "United States Supreme Court" adolescen*
• trials DNA NOT Simpson (Note: must enter NOT to exclude a keyword from search).

KEYWORDS

Use simple nouns as search terms.

EX:  microbiomes "classroom management"

STOPWORDS:  no need to include in search

Exclude certain words from search (computers are designed to exclude them).

EX:  to, the, whether, between, but, they, etc.

PHRASE SEARCHING:  narrows results

Add quote marks " " around two- or three-word phrases.

Search keywords with quote marks as a single phrase.

                               EX:  "liberal media", "pacific white shrimp"                     

TRUNCATION:  expands results

Exchange the word's ending with a symbol (usually *, but can vary).

EX:  microbiom*  returns results that contain microbiome, microbiomes,

SYNONYMS:  alternative words

Use alternative words for original keywords

EX:  replace cars with vehicles, automobiles, transportation, etc.

 AND, OR, NOT are called Boolean operators. They expand or narrow your results.  Apply the Boolean operators when using a database.

AND:  narrows results

Results include all keywords entered.

More keywords, fewer results.

EX:  Results must include college AND financial aid AND application

OR:  increases search results

At least one of the keywords is in the results.

More results

EX:  Results include glasses OR contacts OR now OR ever

NOT:  excludes a keyword

Results will not have the excluded keyword

                                             Fewer results

                                             EX:  college NOT male will exclude male from results.