Once you have identified the key concepts of your research question (see "Developing a Question"), you can use those concepts to develop keywords for your search strategy. The following tips will help you design a precise and relevant search strategy.
Search Tips - Keywords
Use Boolean operators to combine keywords for more precise search results.
AND - If the term must be included in your search:
influenza AND vaccine
OR - If terms are interchangeable, i.e. synonyms. Place OR'd terms within parentheses:
(influenza OR flu) AND vaccine
NOT - If a term should not be included in your search. This Boolean operator is rarely necessary for literature reviews.
(influenza OR flu) AND vaccine NOT H1N1
Truncation allows you to quickly include all variations of a word in your search. Use the root of the keyword and add an asterisk (*). For example:
nurs* = nurse, nurses, nursing, nursery
IMPORTANT: Notice that "nursery" is also retrieved in the above search. Truncation will save you from having to include a large number of synonyms, but it will also add a certain number of irrelevant results. You can limit this effect by using the NOT Boolean operator, i.e. NOT nursery.
Wild cards allow you to replace a letter in a keyword to retrieve all variations of the spelling. For example:
p?ediatric = pediatric, paediatric
A strong search strategy uses both free-text searching and thesaurus searching to ensure that all relevant articles have been retrieved by the search. The table below outlines the strengths and weaknesses of both types of search strategies.
| Free-Text Searching | vs. | Thesaurus Searching |
| Natural language words describing your topic | pre-defined "controlled vocabulary" words used to describe the content of each item in a database | |
| More flexible search strategy - can use any term in any combination | Less flexible search strategy - need to know the exact controlled vocabulary term | |
| Database looks for keywords anywhere in the record - not necessarily connected together | Database looks for subjects only in the subject heading or descriptor field, where the most relevant words appear | |
| May yield too many or too few results | If too many results, you can use subheadings to focus on one aspect of a broader topic | |
| May yield many irrelevant results | Results are usually very relevant to the topic |
MIT Libraries. Database Search Tips: Keywords vs. Subjects. https://libguides.mit.edu/c.php?g=175963&p=1160804
Each database has their own thesaurus. You will need to adapt your search strategy for each database to take advantage of their unique thesaurus.
In other databases, look for a link with the terms "headings", "subject headings", or "thesaurus" to find the appropriate thesaurus terms for your search.
Citation searching is a search strategy that allows you to search either forward or backwards in time through the literature based on an identified relevant article:
For more information about how to perform citation searches, check out this guide from the University of Toledo Libraries.
University of Toledo Libraries. Citation Searching. Updated April 21, 2016. Retrieved from: http://libguides.utoledo.edu/c.php?g=479409&p=3278230.
When searching for articles, it is best to use an appropriate subject database. Be sure to select your database from the Bethel College Library homepage by selecting our "A-Z List of Databases" to ensure that you will have access to full-text articles.
Use the dropdown menu at the top of the A-Z List to find a relevant database by filtering by subject. You can also filter by database type or vendor.
Use the "full-text finder" link to see if the library owns the full-text or if it is available online for free.
Do not forget about our book and ebook collections searchable from our library homepage! Use the "Library Catalog" to search books and ebooks from the BC Library Collection. Use the "Kansas Library Catalog" to search books from libraries across the state which are available to borrow using Interlibrary Loan. Search libraries from all over the world using the "WorldCat" catalog. Finally, search just for ebooks using our "ProQuest Ebook Central" catalog.
Go to our Frequently Asked Questions guide to find out how to login to library resources from off-campus.
