The best foundation for exhausting the literature to its fullest is to learn search techniques that work well in the library databases, including basic strategies, such as using keywords, and advanced strategies, like truncation and proximity searching.
Select search terms, or keywords, that can be used to search for information.
Keywords are the most important words in your topic statement or research question; they define what your topic statement is about. The more keywords you can think of to describe your research, the better!
Keywords: AI-based tools, business, decision making, profitability
It may be helpful to keep a keyword list to help you remember words you have already tried, the combinations you have used, as well as new keywords you may want to try. Highlight or mark with a star any keywords that work well, and cross out ones that don't. You can use a Word document or even a handwritten notebook to keep up with your keywords.
Example Keyword List:
Not all databases process search input the same way; however, a majority do incorporate a phrase searching function. Phrase searching is another technique that can be used to narrow a search.
To initiate a phrase search, enclose a search term, phrase, or title in quotation marks.
Example: "ai based tools"
Proximity searching can help make your search more specific and efficient in library databases.
Proximity searching is used to narrow searches by finding words that are next to, near, or within a specified distance from each other. This is useful when you are looking for concepts that might be expressed by multiple different phrases.
The proximity operators are typically composed of a letter (N or W) and a number (to specify the number of words).
The proximity operator is placed between the words that are to be searched, as follows:
Near Operator (N): N5 finds the words if they are a maximum of five words apart from one another, regardless of the order in which they appear. For example, type tax N5 reform to find results that have a maximum of five words between the beginning and ending terms, that would match tax reform as well as tax that has been submitted for reform.
Within Operator (W): W8 finds the words if they are within eight words of one another, in the order in which you entered them. For example, type tax W8 reform to find results that would match tax reform but would not match reform of income tax.
Example: curriculum n5 theories
Applying truncation can be helpful in broadening your search to help you retrieve more related information about your topic. Truncation allows you to search for different variations of a word based on its root.
You can apply truncation to words using the asterisk symbol (*). For example, searching for the keyword cultur* will retrieve results that contain the following keywords:
When conducting research, your topic will often have ideas or concepts that can be expressed multiple ways. For example, the term teenagers might also be described as adolescents, youth, teens, or young adults. Higher education might also be referred to as post-secondary education, tertiary education, colleges or universities. Online learning might also be referred to as distance learning, virtual learning, e-learning, or even correspondence school.
To retrieve the broadest set of search results, you may include several variations of your search terms using the "nesting" approach. Nesting uses parentheses () to keep concepts that are alike together. Be sure to nest related terms together in parentheses in a single search box.
Example: (teenagers OR adolescents OR youth OR teens)
Wildcards help you find different spellings or variations of a word. They are especially useful when searching for both American and British spellings (like color vs. colour).
Common wildcard symbols:
? – replaces a single character
* – replaces multiple characters
# – may also be used, depending on the database
Examples: Searching for colo*r will return results for both color and colour. Searching for wom?n will return results for both woman and women.
Important: Different databases may use different wildcard symbols. Always check the vendor’s help pages to confirm which ones are supported.
