Search Strategy & Tips
- State your topic or research question in your own words (example: What influence does gender have on success at math?).
- Identify the most important keywords (usually the nouns) or short, commonly used phrases.
- Think of variations (singular, plural) and synonyms for your terms. It may help to check Thesaurus.com.
- Create an initial search statement using connectors or logical operators (especially AND, OR) and, if appropriate, wildcards.
- Try it out in one or more databases and/or Library Catalog.
- Look for other good keywords and subject terms in search results.
- Try revised searches until you're satisfied with the results.
- Depending on the volume of results, consider narrowing or broadening your topic.
- If you're having difficulties, contact us.
Find more (broaden your results) with OR and wildcards:
immigration or emigration (finds either term)
immigrant or immigrants
immigra* (finds immigrant, immigrants, immigration, etc.)
Find less (narrow your results) with AND:
assimilation and asian-american* (finds both terms)
Find less (narrow your results) with NOT:
term 1 not term 2 (excludes records that mention 2nd term; use with caution)
Sample search statement:
foreign worker* and (exploit* or abuse)
- Narrow results with standard limiters (peer-reviewed, date; document type; language; etc.)
- Some databases allows quotation marks for an "exact phrase"
- In databases for a specific subject discipline, look for specialized limiters (such as historical time period in America: History & Life or educational level in ERIC)
- Try restricting some terms to the title or abstract field
- Try restricting some terms to the subject or descriptors field. Subject terms can vary from database to database, but using them usually improves relevance so look for them in results displays and detailed records. Some databases include a subject terms thesaurus.
- Look for different, relevant keywords or subject terms to try
- Simplify your search by removing less critical search terms or limiters
- Expand some terms to the all text or full text field, if provided
- Try a different database or OneSearch
Find Articles in Research Databases
To find scholarly articles more quickly, use the limiter for peer-reviewed or scholarly journals. Some databases allow you to indicate that an article must be longer than a certain number of pages. Looking for articles longer than 3 pages, for example, can be helpful if you want to eliminate book reviews from results.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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Selected full text articles from journals in a wide range of subjects, plus magazines, reports, books, and more
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Primarily full text (excluding most recent 3 - 5 years) for journal articles in the humanities, social sciences, statistics, and mathematics - America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
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Selected full text articles from journals on U.S. and Canadian history and culture with some coverage of books and conference papers - Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Selected full text for journal and magazine articles, books, and more on world history and related social science literature with a focus on areas outside the U.S. and Canada - Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Selected full text articles from English-language journals and magazines in the social sciences - SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Selected full text articles from journals in sociology and related areas of history, anthropology, social work, political science, psychology, and law - MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association) with Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Select full text articles from journals relevant to literature, language, and linguistics, plus coverage for book essays, books, and dissertations - Project MUSE Electronic Journals This link opens in a new window
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Full text articles from journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences
