Most searching in library databases can be accomplished with AND and quotation marks. But, sometimes, you might need to use these advanced database searching tools to make more nuanced searches.
This tool tells the database to find at least one of two or three words. This tool is the best way to search for synonyms without having to try an entire series of searches:
(Parentheses)OR is often paired with parentheses so you can use multiple searching tools in the same search. OR on its own can often bring back too many results, so the parentheses help keep the database from bringing up off-topic resources:
Like OR, truncation is a great way to find synonyms. In this case, truncation helps you find different variations of a word so you don't have to type in every version of a word that you want the database to look for:
The * lets the database know that you want all words that start with those letters. So, this search would bring up: psychology and psychological, but also psychologist. Be careful with this one. If you shorten a word too much (psycho*), you'll get unexpected results (like psychopath).
NOTThis tool helps you remove irrelevant results from your search. For example, if you're searching for information about Beowulf and there are a lot of results for the movie version, you can tell the database to avoid them:
Citation chaining (also called citation mining) is another way to locate relevant research. It takes advantage of the citations that are included at the end of every scholarly article. Unlike library databases, which locate articles based on how well they match your search terms, the articles and other items you find in a bibliography were chosen by researchers. They might provide helpful background information, useful comparisons to other authors or works, or scholarly commentary on the topic.