Don’t Miss Important References!

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Don’t Miss Important References!

• When you are new to literature searching it’s easy to miss important references.

• Here’s a few simple techniques to use when searching databases that should help you to find most of the references you need.

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Wildcard Characters and Truncation

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Use wildcards (*, ?, $) for word variations, e.g. singular / plural, nouns / verbs, UK / US spellings

The asterisk (*) represents any group of characters, including no character

The question mark (?) represents any single character

The dollar sign ($) represents zero or one character

Wildcard Characters and Truncation

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Some Examples:

Phrase Searching

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To search for an exact phrase, enclose the phrase in quotation marks

For example, the search query "energy conservation" will retrieve all references that contain the exact phrase energy conservation

Boolean Operators

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Use Boolean operators to combine your search terms (e.g. AND, OR, NOT, NEAR, etc)

Boolean Operators

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Controlled Vocabulary

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Find any controlled vocabulary available for the subject area you are researching

People who index information for a database will use controlled vocabulary from a list of keywords, often listed online, to:

• Provide a consistent method of finding information that uses different terms for the same concepts

• Find information on a broader or narrower aspect of a particular subject

Controlled Vocabulary

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• There are two main kinds of controlled vocabulary tools used in databases: subject headings and thesaurus terms

Controlled Vocabulary

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Subject Headings

• Describe the main focus of the content of a publication

• Provide terms which bring together different ways of defining a subject

e.g. MESH subject headings from the PubMed database

Controlled Vocabulary

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Thesaurus Terms

• Thesauri list words grouped together according to similarity of meaning

• Thesauri list not only equivalent terms but also narrower, broader terms and related terms

e.g. Thesaurus terms from the Compendex database

Conclusion

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In order to avoid missing important references, use these search techniques – either singly, or by combining them in a search:

• Wildcard characters and truncation• Phrase searching• Boolean search operators• Controlled vocabulary (subject headings and

thesaurus terms)