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Successful Article Search Techniques

The SUNY Empire Online Library provides access to millions of scholarly articles, but searching library article databases is not the same as using a search engine like Google. Following are 5 tips and tricks to help you make the most of your library searches.

1) Searching OneSearch vs. Individual Databases

The first thing to know about our library is that we have over 80 individual databases. Many of these individual databases are subject specific, meaning that they contain articles on topics across a specific subject area, such as Business Source Complete for business, CINAHL for nursing, or PsycARTICLES for psychology.

Several of our databases are multidisciplinary and contain content across several subject areas, such as Academic Search Complete, JSTOR, or Nexis Uni.

OneSearch is not a database but what librarians call a "discovery layer," a complex tool that allows you to search most of the library's individual databases simultaneously. This has obvious advantages but it also presents some challenges. For example, if you hope to find information on the environment, and you type "environment" into OneSearch, you will get millions of results on every kind of environment imaginable--from office culture to interior design to rehabilitation centers. There are two ways to address this challenge: a) use meaning-specific terminology, such as "aquatic environment," and b) search in subject-specific environmental sciences database, such as Environment Complete.

2) Using Keywords vs. Questions

When using search engines, many people simply type in their question and are able to get plenty of useful results. What to know "Who first walked on the moon?" Type that question into Google and Google will tell you it was Neil Armstrong. Library databases do not use the same kinds of algorithms to produce search results, so it's important to learn how to search these tools effectively. Instead of typing in a question or part of a sentence, you will want to enter keywords into the databases' search fields.

For example, recently a student wanted help finding sources to support a hypothesis that modern vampires are not blood-sucking monsters. Typing all of that into OneSearch would give hundreds of thousands of unrelated results because it would be searching for each and every one of those words in every context imaginable. This is where it helps to think in terms of keywords that represent your main concepts. In this case, we considered two concepts: a) modern vampires, and b) "non-monster" sensibilities or behaviors, such as self-control, empathy, and kindness. Entering just these keywords into OneSearch results in a more manageable number of mostly relevant results.

3) Combining Keywords for Best Results

Another powerful technique for getting relevant search results in individual databases and especially in OneSearch is a set of search tools called Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT, "quotation marks", *[truncation] and #[wildcards]). Boolean operators are a way to combine your keywords to get precise search results. Here's how they work:

AND tells the databases and OneSearch that you are only interested in articles that contain both or all of the keywords you type. In other words, if you want articles specifically on individuals with a history of opioid abuse who have begun using these substances again, you might type the following: relapse AND opioid.

OR tells the database that you are interested in synonyms for your keywords. All synonyms must be enclosed in parentheses. For the same search above, you might type: relapse AND (opioid OR oxycodone OR hydrocodone OR fentanyl OR morphine OR methadone). You might also add the brand names or street names for those drugs.

NOT tells the database to eliminate articles from your search that contain a specific term. Let's say that in the example above, you were only interested in fentanyl relapse. You might type the following in your search field: relapse AND fentanyl NOT (oxycodone OR hydrocodone OR methadone OR morphine). You might still get a few irrelevant results because you haven't thought of all of the other variations on opioids, but you should at least get a manageable number of search results to scan through.

"quotation marks" used around a phrase tell the database that you are only interested in articles that contain those words in that order with no other words in between. If you were to type Little House on the Prairie into a database, you would get results on all things little, anything related to prairies, and everything on houses. If you want results on the book or TV series, use quotation marks around the phrase: "Little House on the Prairie"

* [asterisk] is used in many databases as a truncation symbol. A truncation symbol tells the database to want results for all variations on a word. If you add the * to the end of the root word, you will get results on those variations. For example, adolescen* would return results for adolescent, adolescents, and adolescence. # [pound sign] is used in many databases as a wildcard to stand in for a letter in the middle or at the end of the word. For example, wom#n, returns women, woman, and womyn; practi#e returns practice and practice; Latin# returns Latino, Latina, and Latinx.

4) Narrowing and Broadening Searches

If your searches are returning too many or too few results, you can use the Boolean operators to add and remove keywords and concepts. You can also use more and less specific keywords, and also add or remove population or demographic information, such as race, ethnicity, nationality, age, sex, or religion. For example, if therapy AND children returns too many results, you might try "art therapy" AND (teen* OR adolescen*) AND Latin*. If (elderly OR senior) AND Chinese AND "tau tangles" returns too few results, you might try searching adults AND Asian AND (dementia OR Alzheimer's).

5) Using Limiters

Lastly, you will find features on the search results page (usually on the left) and also on the Advanced Search screen (often a link below the basic search field) in both OneSearch and the individual databases. Limiters can help narrow your search results by letting you check boxes for things like "Scholarly/Peer-reviewed Only," selecting specific publication date ranges, choosing articles instead of ebooks, and more.

There is a significant advantage to using the Advanced Search screens within individual, subject-specific databases as opposed to the Advanced Search screen in OneSearch. While OneSearch offers several generic limiters, subject-specific databases offer those limiters, plus many additional limiters that are relevant to those subjects.

For example, PsycARTICLES lets you search by research methodology, Nexis Uni lets you search by legal Briefs, Pleadings and Motions, Business Source Complete lets you search by NAICS/Industry Code or Ticker symbol, and ERIC lets you search by Education Level.

To view an A-Z list of all of our individual databases, click Article Databases on the library home page. To view the databases most relevant to your field of study, click Subject Guides on the library home page, and select the guide related to your field.

Any questions? Ask a Librarian!