Enter your search term, then use the drop-down menus to the right to select the search fields you want to target, and between each row select Boolean operators to connect your search terms.
Below is a brief definition of some of the common fields you can choose from:
►Select a Field or Any Field - Will look through all sections of item records for your keywords. This will deliver a larger, more comprehensive set of results.
►All Text - Will look through the entire full text of the items. This will deliver the largest set of results, but they may not always be the most relevant.
►Author - Use when you want to search for a particular author or theorist. Begin by just using the author's surname.
►Title - Will just search through the titles of the items in the database. This will give you a much smaller and relevant set of results.
►Subject - Will look through the subject tags attached to each record. Again, this will give you a smaller more relevant list of results.
►Journal Title/Source – Will search for articles using some or all of the words in a journal’s title
►Abstract - Limiting to an abstract search when looking for journal articles will often give you a relevant, yet comprehensive search. The abstract is the summary at the beginning of a research article
Use subject searching when you know actual/correct subject headings and you want to do a more precise search than you can with Keyword searching.
Subject searching uses subject headings that come from a predetermined list of possible terms and reflect the content of the item. Most academic libraries use Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) for Subject Search of their online catalogues. A subject search is more specific than a keyword search as it looks in only one field of each record - the subject field.
Many databases use subject headings that are exclusive to that specific database. This controlled vocabulary allows for consistency of terms across the database. For example, Medline database uses MeSH - medical subject headings. These subject headings can be found in the database's thesaurus. In the thesaurus subjects are usually listed with broader, narrower, or related subjects. Using the database's thesaurus will help you identify most effective search terms.
If you are unsure of the correct subject terms use the results of a keyword search to discover subject headings (descriptors) used in the database. Usually, they will appear at the bottom of the article or somewhere in the citation.
How to approach subject searching.
Say you need to find information on Services marketing. Since you don't know the LC Subject Heading, you should start with a Keyword Search. You retrieve a list of titles with your search words. Do any of the titles look relevant? Click on the title of one that looks related to your topic so that you can view the complete record. Now, look at the subject heading (Marketing in service industries). If you click on that subject heading Marketing in service industries you will find more relevant information on that topic. By selecting the LCSH, you get more focused search results.
You can tell the database where to search for your search terms. Telling the database to search in one specific area for a word or words is called field searching.
Databases separate information into fields. Common database fields are author, title, abstract, subject headings.
If you don't select a specific field, most databases automatically search the all fields. Usually the field options are located in a drop-down menu next to the search boxes. Go to the Advanced Search screen if you do not see the boxes.
Think of all the possible ways to express your topic. Brainstorm until you've exhausted all possibilities. An article about global warming may not have the phrase "global warming" anywhere in it. Instead, you may find that the title contains the words "surface temperature records" and has assigned been the subject heading "climate change." To get the best results, use the word OR inside parentheses.
Examples:
(Cetacean OR Whale) AND Pacific
(teen* OR adolescen*) AND (girl* OR female) AND "social media" NOT Facebook
influenza OR flu AND avian - finds records containing the word influenza. It also finds records containing both flu and avian.
(influenza OR flu) AND avian - finds records containing both influenza and avian or both flu and avian.
Databases automatically prioritize Boolean Operators. This is often called "search precedence" and it influences how your search is performed.
Databases usually recognize AND as the primary operator over OR, meaning terms linked with AND will be searched before those linked with OR, no matter the order they appear in your search.
In any database, using parentheses will override the search precedence.
Don't avoid using a database just because it doesn't have any full text; it may be the most comprehensive index for your topic. You'll be able to get the citation and abstract which is all you need to find the item either physically in ATU Library or from one of our partner libraries.
Web of Science is the world's leading scientific citation search and analytical information platform that provide comprehensive citation data for many different academic disciplines.