| Information Terms
Query
The
question, information sought, or search term(s).
Record
The
complete set of fields describing one item, article,
book, etc in the database.
Field
The place
in an electronic or print record for one type of information,
such as title, author, journal, abstract, etc.
Enter
To type
in an instruction and press the Enter key.
Hit
Each record
found in a search is a hit. |
|
One of the
advantages of using electronic databases, such as those found
on the Busse Library Webpages, is the option of Keyword
Searching along with Subject Searching. Successful
searchers use both especially when targeting specific
terminology and concepts or searching for difficult-to-find
information.
The various databases found on the
Periodicals
and Other Databases page and the WWW Search
Tools may differ slightly in how to enter a query (see
sidebar.) The underlying principles are the same even
when the interface is quite different.
Keyword searching is a powerful
strategy because it searches for your terms in several parts
of the records (see sidebar.) A subject search only looks for
the predetermined subject assignment of a record in the
subject field (see sidebar) of the record. Sometimes an
item will have pertinent information about a topic, but not
indicate that in the subject field. A keyword search
will locate the words you request in other fields including
the abstract and fulltext, if included.
There are several guidelines for
basic simple keyword searching. These are based on set
theory and use what are called Boolean or Logical
Operators. The the most common Logical Operators are:
and, or and
not.
And is used to
look for the intersecting set of records containing two or
more words. For example, to search for records about
the effects of weather on health, you could
enter (see sidebar): weather and
health. You may link any words
you want to find in a record with repeated
ands. Some databases assume the
and in keyword searching. Some WWW
search engines only support Boolean searching in their
advanced search modes.
When keyword or subject searching,
take special note of the language used in titles, abstracts
and the full text of articles you find. Use these terms
for subsequent keyword searches. This widens the pool of
resources. In many disciplines, stating information in
new or unique ways is highly
valued. |
