Learn to use keywords and search operators like AND and OR to conduct database searches.

1. A Doherty Library Information Literacy Tutorial

2. Goals
By reviewing this tutorial, you should learn how to:
1. Understand what article databases are
2. Use search limiters
3. Select keywords from a research question
4. Narrow a keyword search with AND
5. Broaden a keyword search with OR

3. 1. What is an article database?
Scholars publish new research in peer-reviewed,
scholarly journals.
There are lots of these journals.
To keep up with them, you’d need to look through
hundreds of tables of contents per month!

4. 1. What is an article database?
Databases compile article information from many
journals.
Imagine thousands of tables of contents combined, with
each item indexed by title, author, subject, and many
other features.
So what?
With a database, you can search for articles on a topic.

5. Goals
By reviewing this tutorial, you should learn how to:
1. Understand what article databases are
2. Use search limiters
3. Select keywords from a research question
4. Narrow a keyword search with AND
5. Broaden a keyword search with OR

6. 2. Use search limiters
When you search, you want to:
 retrieve the sources you want
 eliminate the sources you don’t want.
Limiters (also called filters) let you start eliminating
right away. Look for checkboxes and lists on your
database’s Advanced Search page and on your search
results page.

7. 2. Use search limiters
Important limiters:
 Peer-reviewed only
 Date ranges
 Publication type
 Other stuff: age group, test used, subject, geography,
language

8. Goals
By reviewing this tutorial, you should learn how to:
1. Understand what article databases are
2. Use search limiters
3. Select keywords from a research question
4. Narrow a keyword search with AND
5. Broaden a keyword search with OR

9. 3. Select keywords from a research
question
What makes a good research question?
Less developed: I want to learn about [topic].
At this stage, instead of an article try:
 A reference resource (companion, encyclopedia)
 Brainstorming your topic
 Talking to your professor

10. 3. Select keywords from a research
question
What makes a good research question?
More developed:
 What is the effect of [independent variable] on
[dependent variable] among [population]?
OR
 What does an application of [approach] to [text] reveal
about [historical issue/literary debate]?
Terms in relation => Narrower focus => New knowledge!

11. 3. Select keywords from a research
question
Good research questions give you good keywords for
searching.
Sample question:
What is the effect of Reading Reels lessons on reading
comprehension among 6th graders?
Find 3 keywords or phrases.

12. 3. Select keywords from a research
question
Sample question [education]: What is the effect of
Reading Reels lessons on reading comprehension
among 6th graders?
Keywords:
 “Reading Reels”
 “Reading comprehension”
 6th grade

13. 3. Select keywords from a research
question
Sample question [humanities]: What does close reading
of the Biblical references in Hamlet reveal about
Shakespeare’s understanding of revenge?
What are the best keywords? Find 3-4.

14. 3. Select keywords from a research
question
Sample question: What does close reading of the Biblical
references in Hamlet reveal about Shakespeare’s
understanding of revenge?
Keywords:
 Bible
 Hamlet
 Shakespeare
 revenge
Note:
Leave out words like “reading,” “references,” and
“understanding” that are not specific to your topic.

15. 3. Select keywords from a research
question
Sample question [nursing]: What is the benefit of
breathing relaxation techniques on pain management
for women in labor?
What are the best keywords? Find 3.

16. 3. Select keywords from a research
question
Sample question [nursing]: What is the benefit of
breathing relaxation techniques on pain management
for women in labor?
Keywords:
 Breathing relaxation techniques
 Pain management
 Women in labor
Why not “benefit””?

17. Goals
By reviewing this tutorial, you should learn how to:
1. Understand what article databases are
2. Use search limiters
3. Select keywords from a research question
4. Narrow a keyword search with AND
5. Broaden a keyword search with OR

18. 4. Narrow a keyword search with
AND
AND in database searches is a way of saying, I want only
results with both (or all) these terms.
Add keywords with AND to narrow your results.
Houston
Professional Soccer

19. 4. Narrow a keyword search with
AND
Keywords [education]:
 “Reading Reels”
 “Reading comprehension”
 6th grade
Search:
“reading reels” AND “reading comprehension” AND “6th
grade”
Note: Quotation marks tell the database that you’re searching
for that exact phrase (those words in that order).

20. 4. Narrow a keyword search with
AND
Keywords [humanities]:
 Bible
 Hamlet
 Shakespeare
 revenge
Search:
Bible AND Hamlet AND Shakespeare AND revenge

21. 4. Narrow a keyword search with
AND
Keywords [nursing]:
 Breathing relaxation techniques
 Pain management
 Women in labor
Search:
Breathing relaxation techniques AND pain management
AND women in labor
Note: Medical databases tend to work better without
quotation marks around phrases.

22. Goals
By reviewing this tutorial, you should learn how to:
1. Understand what article databases are
2. Use search limiters
3. Select keywords from a research question
4. Narrow a keyword search with AND
5. Broaden a keyword search with OR

23. 5. Broaden a keyword search with
OR
OR in database searches is a way of saying, I want results
with either of these terms.
Add keywords with OR to broaden your results.
World
Soccer Football FIFA
Cup
Combine these with OR to get all the results you can about
soccer. Can you think of other keywords to broaden the search
further?

24. 5. Broaden a keyword search with
OR
In database searches, use OR to add alternate keywords to
your basic AND search.
Examples:
(comprehension OR understanding) AND (“6th grade” OR
“middle school”)
(labor OR childbirth) AND pain AND (management OR
control)
Note: Parentheses group terms, like in math. In most
databases, multiple boxes do the same thing.
Wrong: pain AND labor OR childbirth
Right: pain AND (labor OR childbirth)

25. 5. Broaden a keyword search with
OR
Truncation is one more way to broaden searches.
Truncation lets you search for different forms of a word. Usually, an
asterisk (*) tells the database that the word can end in any way
from that point on.
Here are examples:
Bibl* searches for Bible OR Biblical.
Grade* searches for grade OR grades OR graders OR graded.
Manag* searches for managing OR management OR manager
Can you think of another example where truncation would be
useful?

26. Go to askus.stthom.edu to get
help using library resources.