For more precise searching, connect your keywords in a meaningful way using the words AND, OR, and NOT.
Think of these connecting words as a bridge between keywords or concepts which allows you to narrow or broaden your search.
Using AND narrows your search.
Using OR broadens your search.
Using NOT will narrow your search.
When using more than one Boolean operator, remember that databases typically recognize AND as the primary operator and will connect those concepts first. Also words and phrases that should be read together should be combined using ().
Proximity operators vary by database, but some common ones include:
w# = with
With specifies that words appear in the order you type them in.
Substitute the # with a number of words that may appear in between. If no number is given, then it specifies an exact phrase.
Examples:
genetic w engineering (searches the phrase genetic engineering)
Hillary w2 Clinton (retrieves Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, etc.)
n# = near
Near specifies that the words may appear in any order.
Substitute the # with a number of words that may appear in between.
Examples:
cloning n3 human (retrieves cloning of humans, human cloning etc.)
Truncation, also known as wildcard searching or stemming, lets you search for a term and variant spellings of that term at the same time.
To truncate a search term, remove the ending of the word and add an asterisk (*) to the end of the word in the search field of the database. The database will retrieve results that include every word that begins with the letters you entered.
Similar to truncation, wildcards substitute a symbol for one letter of a word.
This is useful if a word is spelled in different ways, but still has the same meaning.
Examples:
wom!n = woman, women
colo?r = color, colour
Good:
nurse AND education
adversting AND children
genetic engineering AND ethics
Better:
nurs* AND education
advertis* AND child*
gene* engineering AND ethic*
Best:
nurs* AND (educat* OR train* OR school*)
(advertis* OR market*) AND (child* OR adoles*)
gene* AND (alter* OR engineer*) AND (ethic* OR moral*)
Some words like mat* are problematic. Search results may
include math, matrix, maternity and mating.
Search Term Generator (UT at Austin)
Visu Words (Online Thesarus)