Now that you have chosen a database you should be on the database home page, which will look something like this:
Enter your search terms (keywords) into this search box to find potential resources.
What are Keywords?
1-2 words or phrases that describe your topic
How do you find keywords?
1. Using the words that come to mind first when thinking about the topic
2. Pulling keywords from the question or problem presented.
3. Most articles found in the databases have a keyword section you can use!
Example: How do school shootings affect students? Keywords: shooting, gun rights, firearms, schools, education, students - combinations of these words will produce different results
Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT
Are the words that narrow or expand search results
AND- gets more specific results because all the keywords must be in the same article. Some databases automatically insert AND between words, but it doesn't hurt for you to put it there.
OR- will cause you to find MORE results because OR specifies that either word must appear in the article. Allows you to search for synonyms or word variations. Often there are other words that mean the same as your keyword and OR allows you to search for these variations all at one time
NOT- eliminates unwanted words. This limits the number of irrelevant articles your search retrieves.
Other Types of Connectors?
parentheses, quotation marks, and truncation.
Parentheses: The parentheses specify the order by which search terms are prioritized. If the (parentheses) are first, then the info inside will be found before the info outside the (parentheses). Example: (Huey OR Aztec) helicopter
Quotation Marks: Using quotation marks around a phrase indicates to the database to search for that word or phrase specifically in the order presented. Example: "Hip hop", "Avengers Civil War", "risk management", "Aztec engine"
Truncation: This helps you see variations on word roots. In the databases, you can expand your search by utilizing the * symbol at the end of a root of a word to help find variations. Example: Lead* - will return words such as Leads, Leader, Leadership, Leading, etc.