Digital Search Tips

Records in library databases are comprised of fields containing specific pieces of bibliographic information. Common fields include:

• author
• title
• journal title
• abstract
• publisher
• date/year of publication
• subject/descriptor

• Limiting your search to specific database fields can yield more precise results.
• The easiest way to do this is through using Advanced Search.
• For instance, if you are looking for articles about genetic engineering from New Scientist magazine, it is more efficient to limit your search to the publication name.
• To find various fields within a database, look for drop down boxes or menus to select the field you want to search.
• Then combine words and fields together with boolean or proximity operators, depending on how precise you want to be.

• If you do not choose a specific field, the database usually reverts to a keyword search, where your words will be searched throughout the record.
• If your keyword search retrieves too many records (more than 50), try narrowing your search to retrieve a more manageable result.
• Information overload - too many results - can be a worse situation than finding only 10 very relevant results.

These pages are based on a guide developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries.  They are used here under the creative commons (cc) licence.  The original pages can be found here http://libguides.mit.edu/c.php?g=175963&p=1160724