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
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
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Too many results?
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Too few results?
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| database_search_strategies.pdf |