Database Searching Techniques
Although you can find article citations in a database easily, finding useful and relevent 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.
Wildcard symbol, usually the question mark ?, replaces a letter or letters in the middle of a word or one letter at the end of a word. Not all databases allow wildcards.
Example:
genetic? Retrieves genetic or genetics
colo?rful Retrieves colorful or colourful
Phrase searching, to keep words together as a phrase, you usually use the quote marks around the phrase "words together"
Example: "global warming"
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.
Proximity Searching - linking words or phrases by their proximity to each other is a powerful search tool. Specify the number of extra words which can exist between the searched terms. Exact formatting differs between databases. To search for the word seasonal within 4 words of the word migration, here is the formatting for several popular databases:
Biosis and Zoological Record: seasonal near/4 migration
Earth Atmospheric & Aquatic: seasonal N/4 migration
Scopus: seasonal W/4 migration
CAB: seasonal N4 migration
PubMed: does not allow proximity searching
Agricola seasonal N4 migration
Searching Strategies
The videos below show examples of what your search results in a database might look like, how to use keywords and controlled vocabulary to refine your search, and how to use filters and facets to narrow down your results. Once you have found an article you like, the second video shows you how to access and download the document.
What is Boolean searching?
Boolean searching uses the terms "AND", "OR", and "NOT" to broaden or narrow your search results.
Search Strategies for Topics
Part of picking a topic will involve conducting literature searches. As you search for your topic(s) start with searches as BROAD as possible, while remaining relevant to your topic. Starting broad will give a breadth of coverage that allows you easy options for narrowing your topic. If you start with a narrow topic it is much harder to broaden your topic later to explore more options.
Describe your topic in a sentence.
How did carnivorous plants evolve digestive enzymes?
What are your major concepts? Identify the main elements of your topic.
| Concept 1 | Evolution |
| Concept 2 | Carnivorous plants |
| Concept 3 | Digestive enzymes |
Think of related terms for your concepts. Use both common words and scientific terms.
|
|
|
Synonyms |
Synonyms |
Synonyms |
Synonyms |
|
Concept 1 |
Evolution |
Convergent evolution |
|
|
|
|
Concept 2 |
Carnivorous plants |
Cephalotus follicularis (Australian pitcher plant) |
Nepenthes alata (Asian pitcher plant) |
Sarracenia purpurea (American pitcher plant) |
Drosera adelae (Sundew) |
|
Concept 3 |
Digestive enzymes |
Chitanase |
Purple acid phosphatase |
RNase T2 |
|
Add Boolean Operators (AND & OR) to structure the search in a database search interface.
| Synonyms | Synonyms | Synonyms | Synonyms | ||
| Concept 1 | Evolution | OR Convergent evolution | |||
| AND | |||||
| Concept 2 | Carnivorous plants | OR Cephalotus follicularis OR Australian pitcher plant | OR Nepenthes alata OR Asian pitcher plant | OR Sarracenia purpurea OR American pitcher plant | OR Drosera adelae OR Sundew |
| AND | |||||
| Concept 3 | Digestive enzymes | OR Citanase | OR Purple acid phosphatase | OR RNase T2 |
Scientific Information Databases at UConn
Engineering Village which is made up of both Compendex and Inspec, is the best general search database for engineering, along with Scopus. PubMed is useful if you are researching biomedical engineering topics. Knovel, Reaxys and SciFinder are great for researching chemical properties or specific data. IEEE is the top resource for electrical engineering.
- ACM Digital LibraryProvides access to journals, transactions, proceedings, and newsletters published by the Association of Computing Machinery.
- ASM Alloy Phase Diagram DatabaseThe ASM Alloy Phase Diagram Database allows subscribers to explore, search and view more than 35,000 binary and ternary phase diagrams and associated phase data for more than 6200 systems from their Web browsers.
- Engineering VillageCross search of two engineering databases: Inspec & Compendex. Indexes scholarly articles in physics, electronics and electrical engineering, computers and control, and information technology.
- EngrXIV: Open Archive of EngineeringA great source for open papers and preprints in the fields of engineering.
- IEEE XploreFull-text journals, conference proceedings, and IEEE Standards in electrical engineering, computer science, and electronics from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
- KnovelOver 800 full-text engineering and scientific reference works, handbooks, encyclopedias, reference books, and standards in engineering and chemistry.
- PubMedScholarly journal articles about health and medicine, nursing, audiology, and biology.
- ReaxysIncludes in-depth chemical substance and reaction data.
- ScienceDirectScholarly journal articles and eBooks covering social sciences and hard sciences from 1995 to the present.
- SciFinder-nIncludes online access to Chemical Abstracts and the CAS Registry File of over 19 million chemical substances.
- ScopusScholarly journal articles and conference papers on any topic in science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts & humanities. Includes cited references and h-index information.
- SpringerLinkFull-text access to over 500 peer-reviewed journal titles in scientific, technical, and medical fields published by Springer.
- SpringerLink E-booksFull-text access to select e-books in scientific, technical, and medical fields published by Springer.
- TRIDIncludes article abstracts from transportation research journals covering highways; transit; railroads; maritime; and aviation.
Acronym Guide:
Many of the databases and scholarly societies have acronyms that can be confusing. Here are their definitions:
ACM: Association for Computing Machinery
ASTM: American Society for Testing & Materials
IEEE: Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers
IET: Institution of Engineering and Technology
TRB: Transportation Research Board
TRIS: Transportation Research Information Services
ITRD: International Transport Documentation Database (from OCED)
Other Scholarly Societies: we do not subscribe to these as whole databases, but writings may be available through databases we already subscribe to:
ASME: American Society of Mechanical Engineers
ASCE: American Society of Civil Engineers
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