Boolean operators:
AND - use to narrow a search and get fewer and more relevant results.
elections and voters
OR - use to broaden a search and get more results. Good for synonyms and words with variant spellings. Add parentheses when using OR.
(latin america or argentina or colombia)
(organization or organisation)
NOT - use to narrow a search to get more relevant results
mexico not new mexico
Truncation:
Use to find words with different word endings.
e.g. immigrant* yields immigrant, immigrants
e.g. immigra* yields immigrant, immigrants, immigrate, immigration, immigrating, etc.
Truncation (or wildcard) symbols:
• Most databases use an asterisk (*).
• LexisNexis uses an exclamation mark (!).
• AU Library catalog and World News Connection use a question mark (?).
• iPolls & RoperExpress use a percentage sign (%).
• Ovid databases use dollar sign ($).
Proximity search:
Use to find words that are close to each other on a page.
It is one way to find more relevant results.
Each family of databases has its own command words.
EBSCO:
nnumber=words near another word in any order, within a certain number
fundamental* n3 islam*
Factiva:
same=words in same paragraph
sex trafficking same ngo*
nearnumber=words near another word in any order, within a certain number
president* near3 speech
HeinOnline
~number=words near each other in any order, within a certain number
"watershed planning"~10
LexisNexis:
w/number=words within a specified number of words, in any order
human rights w/2 violations
w/s=words within the same sentence
crime w/s (dc or district of columbia)
w/p=words within the same paragraph
gays w/p military
ProQuest:
near/number=words near another word in any order, within a certain number
renewable energy near/5 viable
Scopus
w/number=words near another word in any order, within a certain number
Web of Science:
Web of Knowledge:
Social Science Citation Index:
MEDLINE:
near/number=words near another word in any order, within a certain number
government near/3 fund*
