Now that you have a research question, use its constituent parts to identify how to conduct your search.
Click on the "social work" example to view the search strategies in real time in OneSearch including:
A Keyword search looks for words anywhere in the record. This includes the title, abstract, contents, and subject terms.
When keyword searching, use one or two keywords. You can overwhelm a database with too many keywords; it's unlikely that a single article contains all of your keywords.
Hidden between combinations of keywords is the invisible Boolean Operator AND. This invisible operator tells the database to return results that contain all of your keywords.
Use the asterisk ( * ) or question mark ( ? ) at the end of a word root to wield the advanced search strategy of truncation. It allows you to access permutations of your keywords.
Phrase searching is automatically invoked when you put two or more keywords in quotation marks.
The database will only return sources that have your exact phrase in the title, abstract, or contents.
This is a powerful search strategy, but make sure you are using the right phrase.
If you have spent time building a working knowledge of your topic, you should be more likely to use effective phrase searches.
OneSearch replicates the physical act of browsing for similar books on the shelf with its Virtual Browse feature.
After clicking into a book's record, scroll to the bottom of the page to find a gallery that slides left ad right, allowing you to find books of similar subjects.
Virtual Browse works for items that are in the LAC and PCC Libraries.
One cool feature that a number of databases offer is the ability to browse their digital collection. Browsing is the act of perusing and looking over a collection in order to see at a first glance what they have to offer. Academic databases, although they are digital, allow students to browse their collections, topics, subjects, and issues. However, not all academic databases allow for browsing.
Follow these links to go directly to the 'browse issues' section for the following databases. These are my favorite four databases for pro/con and argumentative research.
Databases will give you access to multiple search bars. You can customize each search bar, allowing you to save time.
Click on the example image below to view customized compound and nested searches joined by Boolean Operators in OneSearch.
In the example below we have frontloaded our search to locate sources published in the last ten years that meet a number of unique criteria related to disability benefits for children.
We can then continue to refine our search using the filters once our results display and select subjects, availability, and source types.
When you find a source that seems useful, click into its information page. If the information page is complete, you should be able to access its subject terms. Variations of this feature include:
Subject Terms are a very specific set of controlled vocabulary that are helpful for precision searches.
Think of subject terms like hashtags on Instagram or Twitter. When you find a subject term that matches your interest, collect it and click on it to view more resources that librarians have stamped with that subject term.
Use these terms to find variations on a topic, learn what industry-specific terminology is being used in your field, and expand or narrow your search to a more meaningful set of keywords.
Using Boolean Logic, three operators are used as conjunctions that combine or exclude certain keywords in your search. Some search tools need Boolean operators to be typed in all capital letters in order for them to work, so it is a good idea to always type them in all caps whenever you are using them.
Results will all contain all three of these keywords/phrases, decreasing the number of results.
There will be less sources that contain all three keywords.
Results will contain either one of the three keywords, increasing the number of results.
There will be more sources that contain at least one keyword.
The Boolean NOT excludes keywords from your search.
