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How to Search Effectively
- Boil your topic down to the most important words. Ignore superfluous words like in, the, of, with, against, effect, impact. Always begin with a keyword search or the Select a Field (optional) choice.
- Put each "different piece" of your topic in a separate search box. Leave the AND box off to the left alone--don't change that. Using the topic of laws/legislatures/legislation in Virginia or Jamestown during the colonial period as an example below, note how each different piece of the topic is entered on a separate line. Synonyms for the pieces are connected by OR--and kept on the same line--as seen below...
- Too many results? Focus your search by searching for your keywords in the ABSTRACT field or the TITLE field. Click on the Select a Field (optional) pull down bar to select the abstract or title field. Or...change your topic slightly--in this case, you might want to look at the medical aspects of the Mexican war.
- Too few results? Add synonyms to your search--using OR--and keep your synonyms all on the same line.
- Increase your results by removing the least important "piece" of your search while still retaining the "essence" of your search. In this case, the least important piece may be the Virginia or Jamestown segment.
- Still no results? Broaden your search slightly. Still no luck? Try a different database.
- When reviewing your results, look for relevant "subject" or "descriptor" words. Find subject terms either on the results page, or at the end of individual records. Write down relevant subject terms that you find.
- Go back to the search screen and using the subject terms you discovered, search your subject terms in the subject or descriptor field. Subject terms are gold threads--they will almost always lead you to the most relevant results.
- Be sure to take advantage of:
- Boolean connectors (AND, OR, NOT)
- Exact phrase searching -- "seventeenth century"
- Field searches (search within the abstract, title, or subject fields)
- When you find an article you want, choose PDF full-text or HTML full-text links. Or...use the
link to find full-text.
- If the Looking for Full-Text link failed, then use the Request from LVC Tipasa option to receive a copy of the article or book from another library.
