Planning your Search Strategy
- Think about what kind of material you are looking for
- Where is it likely to be published?
- Check what resources the Library has
- How is it likely to be described? Think about what keywords/synonyms you could use to construct searches
- Choose "Advanced Search" in the database you use, to get a more structured search & register with the Database (to save your search histories & receive alerts)
- Use the Boolean search operator "AND" to search Keywords together, (e.g. Social Media AND Communication) to narrow your search
- Use the Boolean search operator "OR" to broaden your search to include synonyms, (e.g. Human Resources OR Personnel Management OR Human Capital)
- Start broad then refine your search results (by peer review, publication date, subject area, geographic area)
- Save searches or export to a reference management tool (EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero)
- Support and Training is available from the Library staff, so do contact us
Tips for Database Searching
EBSCO Browser Extension link to Full Text
With EBSCOhost Passport™, going back and forth between your research on the web and the library website to check if you have access is a thing of the past!
EBSCOhost Passport, now available in the Chrome Web Store, makes research simpler and more efficient for end users by dynamically inserting links to full text in virtually any web page where DOIs are present. EBSCOhost Passport does this by scanning the page for DOIs, then checking if the user has access to the article either in an EBSCOhost full text database, through a subscribed journal at the publisher site or available as Open Access. It even knows about the authentication preferences of the user’s institution and adjusts the links accordingly.
Quick Tips & Shortcuts for Database Searching
Boolean Searching (using AND,OR,NOT) Basics
Advanced Searching Strategies Seminar Recording
- Advanced Searching Seminar SlidesPresentation on Advanced Database Search delivered Summer 2021
