Introduction
A lot of the content you'll find online will be organized into a type of database. This means you can search them using the same tricks and techniques you use to search library databases.
This page will give pointers on phrase searching and Boolean Operators. Ask a Librarian to get more help with search strategies.
What if Boolean Operators don't work?
Some databases and search engines don't support Boolean Operators or wildcard characters. Many of them will state that near the search box, but you should be able to find more information about advanced search techniques in a website's Help or FAQ pages.
What other search strategies are there?
In addition to "phrase searching," and Boolean operators, you can also try using wildcard searches.
Like truncation, wildcard searches will expand your results. Wildcard searches allow the database to replace the wildcard symbol with any letters that would make up a real word. It's like a shorthand way of typing every possible word that fits the pattern with OR in between. Not only will this save you time, but it might also give you alternative keywords you hadn't even thought of.
Here's a table to illustrate how some of these symbols (including the truncation asterisk) typically work.
| Symbol | What it does | Sample search | Instead of typing |
| * | replaces zero or more letters at the end of a word | comput* | computer OR computing OR computational OR... |
| # | replaces at most one letter | ne#t | net OR neat OR next OR nest OR... |
| ? | replaces only one letter | b?t | bat OR bet OR bit OR bot OR but OR... |
REMEMBER: Some databases may use these symbols differently or may use different symbols, so check the database's help section if you're having problems with wildcards.
Bibliography Mining
If someone has already done research on a topic you are investigating you are encouraged to seek out the same sources. Sometimes you may find an abundant amount of material that wasn't important to them, but is perfect for you. Other times you may find you disagree with their interpretation, which will give you something to write about from a fresh perspective.
Theses and dissertations are a great place to find bibliographies (sometimes called literature reviews) Many can be found in this database-
- Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new windowWorld's largest collection of full-text theses and dissertations. 1861 to present.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Searches scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts, and technical reports.
