Maritime Studies Subject Guide — Searching Scholarly Databases

Although you can find article citations in a database easily, finding useful and relevant articles is often difficult. Several search strategies will be useful.

Boolean logic uses and / or / not  to combine words or terms. 

Examples:    

bacteria or microorganisms        includes either term

microscopy and bioassay           includes both terms

turtles not migratory                   includes first term but not second term

Truncation symbol, usually the asterisk *; offers variant endings on words. 

Example: hypothe* retrieves hypothesis, hypotheses, hypothetical, etc.

Phrase searching, to keep words together as a phrase, you usually use the quote marks around the phrase "words together"

Example:  "Indian Ocean"

Author Name - the same author may publish under versions of a name over a lifetime. Search for different combinations of the name OR with unusual last names try searching for last name, first initial with an asterisk, as in Buffo J*

Examples: 

Silander, John A.

Silander John Augustus

Silander J.A.

Silander J.

Features of scholarly articles:

• Written for experts, not a general audience
• Published in academic journals
• Judged by fellow experts in the field through a process called “peer-review”

A peer-reviewed article has been reviewed by experts in the field before publication, to ensure that it meets the standards of the field.

Be aware: an item published in an academic journal will not always be peer-reviewed. Some Academic journals also publish items such as editorials or a note from the editor.

Video explaining peer review:  Peer Review in 3 Minutes