Finding Information Sources: How?

Now that you know where to search, it's important to consider how to make the best use of these databases. Though you have already determined your keywords for searching by this stage, knowing exactly how to combine those keywords and enter them in a search box can make a big difference in the usefulness and relevance of your results. As discussed in the "Developing Keywords" section of this module, it is the responsibility of the searcher to perform their searches according to the functionality and the search language of whichever database they are using. Knowing how to effectively communicate to a database which materials will be relevant is an important--and often overlooked--skill, and it requires an understanding of how these search systems function.

The videos below will go a little more in-depth about the ins and outs of database searching.

 

This first video will introduce the following three search concepts, which will help you create and combine your keywords most effectively: 

• Phrase searching
• Truncation
• Boolean operators

Your turn!

 

This second video will introduce the use of a database thesaurus, which can also help you determine the best keywords to use in subject databases:

Note: Although quotation marks are useful when searching for a phrase on the search page of ERIC, they should not be used when searching in the thesaurus.

Your turn!

For the task below, use this quick link to navigate to the Education Research Guide. Please note that the response box below is case sensitive. Use only lower case letters when submitting your answer.