Search tips
When searching for information in a database or on the web you can increase the number of relevant hits you receive by defining as precisely as possible the actual information you are trying to obtain before you begin. The following suggests what you should think about prior to conducting your search:
The film below from SLU library provides a brief introduction of how to begin the search process based on the subject you’ve selected for your paper.
Sometimes, different authors can use different terms for what is in principle the same thing. To ensure that you don’t miss potentially relevant resources when conducting your search, take a moment to reflect on the following:
- Use synonyms and alternative terms, even antonyms
- Use both scientific (Latin) and Swedish/English names for plants and animals
- Use all the different age and sex-related terms for animals (including singular and plural forms)
- Use the commercial name when the term for which you are searching is a chemical compound
- Note the difference between British and American spelling, as most English-language databases include both versions (i.e. sulphur/sulfur, colour/color)
By using truncation you can search for a various forms of a word’s root. The symbol use for truncation varies in different databases but it is often an asterisk (*) or perhaps a question mark (?).
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Example: Genetically modified potatoes – are they dangerous?
Gather relevant search terms:
Genetic engineer*, genetically modif*, gmo
Potato*, solanum tuberosum
Risk*, health*, danger* safe*
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When you want to combine several words in a search you should use AND, OR, NOT.
AND
Is used to locate results that include both search terms, thereby narrowing your search
Example: potato* AND genetically modif*
Results in hits that contain both terms
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OR
Is used between synonyms and related terms to broaden the search
Example: genetically modif* OR genetic engineer*
Results in hits that contain one term or the other, or both terms
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NOT
Is used to eliminate certain results, and should be used carefully. Note: you take the risk of missing relevant results when using NOT to eliminate a specific term.
Example: earth heat* NOT heat pump*
Results in hits that include the first term but not the latter
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Parentheses: when you use the AND and OR in a search at the same time, you will need to place parentheses around the alternative terms/synonyms that you’ve joined together with OR
Example:
(genetically modif* OR gmo) AND (potato* OR solanum tuberosum)
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Phrase searching is a method you can use when searching for a specific name or a phrase, for example the name of an organization, an author, an article with a long title, or a combination of terms that are used for a specific subject or area of study. When using phrase searching you are setting a condition that the terms for which you are searching will appear in the results exactly in the order you selected. Many search tools use quotation marks to denote a phrase. Other tools offer a phrase search alternative directly in the menu that doesn’t require users to add quotation marks.
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Example:
“solanum tuberosum”, “increase in larval damage”
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The textual content of SLU Library’s Search- and writer´s guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license