Databases will give you access to full text journal articles and/or citation or abstracts for journal articles. Database searching can be tricky but here are some tips that will help you find the most relevant results quickly and easily.
Keywords
We do not use full sentences to search databases. Instead we use ordinary words or phrases, keywords. Choosing the right keywords is the most important aspect of your search.
Use quotation marks around the words or phrases to keep them together. For example "united states" "klamath river" "legalizing marijuana"
Keywords are the main concepts or ideas behind your question. A database will not recognize a complete sentence so it is important to tailor your search by identifying the main concepts, usually 2-3, of your topic. A concept can be a keyword or key phrase.
In addition to identifying the main concepts of your topic, brainstorm synonyms or alternate ways of addressing your main ideas. Databases will only retrieve results that include the exact words you search so you may miss out on a lot of relevant results by not expanding your search with synonyms.
Many databases will open directly to an Advanced Search screen showing multiple search bars, databases that open to a Basic Search will give you the option of changing over to an Advanced Search.
Assign one main concept plus synonyms to each search bar. Search separate concepts using AND, add synonyms with OR and remove concepts from your search with NOT.
To review:
AND is used to link separate concepts in one search.
OR is used to search separate concepts (usually synonyms) at once.
NOT is used to exclude select concepts from your search.