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Bio1003 - Carey

Organize and strategize

  • Have a strategy!
  • Write down your topic
  • Brainstorm terms with the same meaning
  • Search for keywords, not sentences
    • Do: addiction alcoholism
    • Don't: What are the effects of alcoholism and addiction?
  • Group phrases within quotation marks
    • Do: "substance abuse"
  • Review descriptions/records of useful items for more search terms
  • Keep track of where you have searched and what keywords were helpful
  • Ask the experts for some help

What are you searching for?

Library databases can be picky about the search terms you choose. Don't search by simply typing in a sentence!

In the following example, the highlighted words would be your search terms. 

  • How does genetic diversity within a species influence reproduction and population growth?
    • "Genetic Diversity" AND Reproduction
    • "Genetic Diversity" AND "Population Growth"
    • "Genetic Diversity" AND Reproduction AND Influence
    • "Genetic Diversity" AND Species AND Influence
    • "Genetic Diversity" AND Impact AND Reproduction
    • "Genetic Diversity" AND Species AND Reproduction OR Population Growth
Using Phrases to Search

For search terms that include multiple words, use quotes " " to keep the database from splitting up the phrase. "population growth" will search for the exact phrase "population growth."

 

Looking for your Taxonomist's Research

It may be good to start by putting your scientist's name into our SOAR catalog, to find their research in our databases. Remember that SOAR searches over multiple databases at a time! You would just need to put in the name, for example:

  • Catherine Badgley
  • Catherine E. Badgley
  • or Badgley, Catherine
  • C. Badgley
  • C. E. Badgley
  • Badgley, C.

Boolean Operators

Use the Boolean Operators AND, OR, and NOT to create search statements to enter in databases, SOAR, Google, et cetera. 

Examples:

  • College AND Technology AND Learning
  • (College OR Higher Learning OR University) AND (Technology OR Computers) AND (Learning OR Instruction)
  • (Technology AND Learning AND Elementary) NOT College
Truncation

Truncation allows you to search for multiple terms with the same root at once by using an asterisk:

  • Educat* = Educate, Education, Educational, Educator
  • Child* = Child, Children, Childish

 

Source: Carnegie Vincent Library, Boolean Operators: Pirates vs. Ninjas