Digital Search Tips

Stop words are frequently occurring, insignificant words that appear in a database record, article or web page.

Common stop words include:

• a
• an
• the
• in
• of
• on
• are
• be
• if
• into
• which

Why should you care about stop words?

• Many databases ignore common words from your search statement.  If included, the database returns far too many results.
• So you know which words to exclude from your search statement.
• To make sure they are included if they are a significant part of your search.
• Many databases recognize common stop words when they are part of the controlled vocabulary of subject headings and descriptors.  Example: balance of payments
• Stop words vary by database. Check the Help screens for a list.

How can you avoid using stop words in your search?

• In some databases, you can use techniques to include stop words as part of the search.
• Some databases use quotes around stop words.  Example: Title keyword= out "of" africa retrieves title: Out of Africa

• Choose the most significant words that describe your topic and connect them together using Boolean operators or proximity operators.

• Search for your terms in specific fields, such as author, title or subject/descriptor.

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