Here to help!
Keywords are words or short phrases that represent the main ideas in your research question.
In Google, you can search in full sentences. Most library databases do not understand full sentences or spelling mistakes. Use keywords to pull up the most relevant results.
Different words can describe the same concept, and you can never be sure which keywords will get you the type of information you are looking for.
Start with your research question to pull out the main concepts.
Using Boolean logic means using command to connect your search words. It helps you find better information and avoid the irrelevant. The Boolean connectors are AND, OR, and NOT.
Example: What is the impact of college binge drinking on grades?
Identify the keywords in your question. For this example, they are: College, Binge Drinking, and Grades.
AND connects these concepts so you get results that have both search terms. You are telling the search engine to look for items that contain all of your search terms. This will narrow your search so you will retrieve fewer results.
For example, College AND "Binge drinking" AND Grades will give you articles represented in the area where these intersect.
OR connects these concepts so you get results that have at least one (or more) of your search terms. You are telling the search engine to look for any of these search terms. Use it with synonyms to broaden your search. You will retrieve a greater number of results.
For example College OR University will give you results that contain either term represented in all the shaded areas.
Combine these search strategies for an even more powerful search. Use parentheses to separate groups of search words.
For example, you may want to combine the following keywords into one search: College, University, "Binge drinking", alcohol, grades, "academic achievement"
(College OR University) AND ("Binge drinking" OR alcohol) AND (grades OR "academic achievement")
NOT will eliminate terms from a search. If you want to search for articles about alcohol but not other drugs, you could search for:
(College OR University) AND ("Binge drinking" OR alcohol) AND (grades OR "academic achievement") NOT drugs
To search for a whole phrase instead of individual words, use quotation marks around two or more words that describe one concept. This will give you more specific results.
Oklahoma land run= 20,175 results
"Oklahoma land run"= 28 results.
Truncation is a fancy word that simply means replacing one or more letters in a word with symbols in order to increase your results. Most databases use the asterisk (*) to replace the letters at the end of a word.
employ* finds items with the words employ, employs, employee, employed, employment, etc.
This will not bring up any synonyms, just alternate endings of the root word.
The University of Central Oklahoma recognizes the university's main campus is located on the traditional lands of the Caddo and Wichita people.
View the full Land Acknowledgement.
