Don't miss important references

1. Don’t Miss Important
References!
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/

2. 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.
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/

3. Wildcard Characters and
Truncation
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/
 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

4. Wildcard Characters and
Truncation
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/
Some Examples:

5. Phrase Searching
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/
 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

6. Boolean Operators
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/
Use Boolean operators to combine
your search terms (e.g.
AND, OR, NOT, NEAR, etc)

7. Boolean Operators
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/

8. Controlled Vocabulary
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/
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

9. Controlled Vocabulary
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/
• There are two main kinds of controlled
vocabulary tools used in databases:
subject headings and thesaurus terms

10. Controlled Vocabulary
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/
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

11. Controlled Vocabulary
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/
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

12. Conclusion
RDF
InformationLiteracy
http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/
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)