Constructing Search Strings
Remember: Databases don't speak English.
Construct search strings to effectively find resources in databases.
Research Question: "What effect does media have on teens' body image?"
A good example of a search string:
"body image" AND media AND teens
A not great example of a search string:
media's effects on teen body image
Tips for Constructing Search Strings
- Use AND, OR, or NOT to expand, refine, or edit your search. AND will join two words or phrases together and search for both. NOT will search for one topic but not the other. And OR will search for either term you enter.
- Use quotes around phrases with two or more words.
- Boil your research question down into main ideas. For example, in the research question above, the main topics are: body image, teens, and media.
- Try using wildcards if you're looking for multiple spellings of a word. Like this: search wom*n, and you'll get results for woman, women, and womyn.
Keywords
- Remember that you need to use keywords when searching in library resources.
- Think about keywords that might be used to describe your topic and brainstorm synonyms for those words to include in your searching, as well.
- Use "" when you want to search multiple terms as a phrase. Keep in mind that the name of your language may be spelled in different ways.
- EX: "science fiction" rather than just Science Fiction
- Don't forget to use words like AND, OR, and NOT (boolean operators) between your keywords to broaden or narrow your search.
Limiters
Many databases provide ways for you to limit your search results.
If your initial search returns too many results try limiting these results using these features such as limiting by date, type of publication, subject, etc.
Limit to Franklin & Marshall College
Limit to last ten years of publication
Limit to the subject area of anthropology
Limit to articles
Databases to get you started...
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Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowComprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals.
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Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new windowArticles and other text materials published in scholarly journals in the arts and humanities. Subjects covered are the Arts, Humanities, Language (including Linguistics), Poetry, Music, Classical works, History, Philosophy, Archaeology, Architecture, Religion, Television, Theater, and Radio. Covers 1975 to the present.
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Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowComprehensive international historical coverage (excluding the U.S. and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and much more. Features article (+ some book) indexing from 1955 to the present.
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JStor This link opens in a new windowA collection of full-text articles from over 3000 scholarly journals, many dating from the nineteenth-century to the last 4 or 5 years. A growing number of titles are available through the current issues, as part of their "Current Scholarship Program". Select Advanced Search to strategically search amongst 45 disciplines. Choose PDF from within JStor to properly view and print articles. For convenience, JStor is now searchable on Facebook.
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Literature Criticism Online This link opens in a new windowAn extensive compilation of literary commentary, representing a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras, and genres. Features content from broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopedias, books and periodicals.
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MLA/Modern Language Association International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowComprehensive index of articles, book chapters and essays in literature, languages, and folklore. Features content published from the 1920s to the present.
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Project Muse This link opens in a new windowProvides access to scholarly journals and eBooks in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Dates of coverage varies per title.