DOING RESEARCH IN THE ANDERSEN LIBRARY, UW-WHITEWATER

Martha StephensonReference & Instruction Librarian

KEYWORD SEARCH TIPS

ANDERSEN LIBRARY DATABASES ARE USED TO FIND MOSTLY ARTICLES

WHAT IS A DATABASE?

An database is an online index of citations, sometimes containing complete articles or other full text.

Examples:

Academic Search Complete (EbscoHost)JSTORLexisNexis

TIPS TO SAVE YOU TIME: FIND INFO FAST

THESIS STATEMENT, ISSUE, QUESTION How have cell phones effected social

interaction between teenagers?

cell phones

social interacti

on

teenagers

cellphonessocial

aspectsadolescents

cellular telephones

young adults

mobile phones

children

BRAINSTORM

KEYWORD TIP #1: USE AND

AND Use to connect different

concepts Both concepts will be in the

results Narrows search (finds fewer,

more on target results)

phonesFinds=4053

cell AND phonesFinds=1775

KEYWORD TIP #2: USE OR OR

Use to connect similar concepts At least one term will be in the

results Broadens search (finds more

results, is more thorough) Saves time by doing several

searches in one

cell Finds=2474 cell OR cellular

Finds=3343

KEYWORD TIP #4: PHRASES

Quotation Marks “ ” Use when words often or always

occur in a specific order All words inside the quotes will be

in the results, in the exact order used

Narrows search (finds fewer, more on target results)

cell AND phones Finds=1775 “cell phones”

Finds=1223

KEYWORD TIP #3: USE TRUNCATION

Truncation Use to find various endings of a word Place symbol at the end of the root word Broadens search (finds more results) Symbol varies among databases Be careful of placement!

phone* = phone, phoned, phones, & 30 other words

cat* = cat, cats, catatonic, catalytic, catastrophic, & 250 other words

KEYWORD TIP #5: COMBINATIONS

Nesting in Databases Use to assure search runs correctly when

using both ANDs & ORs Like in algebraic equations Place OR/synonym part in parentheses

(“cell phone*” OR cellphone*) AND teen*

any questions?