Advanced Search Techniques
Use ANDs, ORs and NOTs
Combine your search terms with these connecting terms (called "Boolean operators").
Use AND to narrow a search. Use OR to broaden a search.
Truncation Symbol: Finds the root of a word (an asterisk in most databases)
pharm*
Finds pharmacology, pharmacy, pharmaceutical, etc.
Wildcard Symbol: Allows for multiple spellings of a word...
Example: sul*ur
Finds sulphur and sulfur
Exact Phrase Searching: Use quotation marks
Example: "persian cat"
Finds information on cats that are the Persian breed, not just cats in relation to anything Persian.
Image: https://sites.google.com/a/onalaskaschools.com/tech/boolean-search-tools
Be Aware of...
Synonyms
factual = correct = accurate
Different spellings
cellphone, cell-phone, cell phone, cellular phones, cellular telephones, mobile phone
Homonyms
tears = laceration tears = fluid from eyes
Abbreviations
gluteal or gluteous or glut* but not glute
Nicknames
Affordable Care Act instead of Obamacare
Acronyms
Type 2 Diabetes instead of T2D
Stop words
Stop words are very common words that are automatically ignored by most databases, like
and, if, or, the, a, for, to, an, as, by
Use quotation marks if you need to search for a term that has a stop word in it, such as "Out of Africa" or "The Who".