BES 301: Science Methods & Practice (Price): Search Strategies

1. Conceptually, with keywords 
   Example: Women AND STEM --> women AND mathematics

2. Mathematically, with Boolean logic
   Example: women AND mathematics --> AND … anything else, e.g.,
   women AND mathematics AND (industry OR employment OR jobs)

3. Database/interface-assisted, with limiters
   Example: Women AND mathematics --> limited to peer reviewed journals, published 2000 or later, geographically limited to the United States

Truncation: *

• The * is a common symbol used to replace any number of letters at the ends of words
• Helps find singulars, plurals, and variant endings of words
• Check each database's help pages to see which truncation symbol is used in that particular database
• Example: vot* finds vote, votes, voter, voting, etc.
• Example: communit* finds community, communities 

Limits: 
Most databases let you limit search results. Some limits include:

• Language  
• Publication type, 
• Date of Publication, etc.

Phrases: " "

• Enclose phrases in quotation marks when searching the Web or most databases
• Phrase searching in individual databases may vary. Check the help pages in each database for additional information.
• Example: "voter registration" 
• Example: "electoral college"