Use Boolean Operators AND – narrows search by including all terms in the resulting records psychology AND psychiatry OR – broadens search results by including two or more similar concepts psychology OR psychiatry NOT – narrows search results by excluding terms psychology NOT psychiatry Use the limiters Limiters allow users to narrow their search by including certain criteria. Common limiters include the following: Date – recent dates are often more relevant Peer-reviewed (Scholarly) Full text Primary source documents Use quotation marks to search an exact phrase “climate change” Use an asterisk to search all possible endings of a root word manage* for manages, management, managers, managerial
Too many results?
Use AND to add more terms to your search
Do not use OR
Use the limiters
Find more specific terms
Too few results?
Try a different database
Use fewer search terms
Brainstorm related terms and broader terms
Break your topic into different parts and search each part individually