Module 5: The Helpful "advanced search" Feature

Module 5:

The Helpful "advanced search" Feature

Many library databases have a "basic search" feature for keyword searching.

The "basic search" is often the first option that you are presented with when you get into a database.

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This "basic search" option is frequently just a search line with no pull-down menu, as in the example below:

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However, most library databases have an "advanced search" screen for more focused searching.

Below is a typical example of one of these. It has several search lines with pull-down menus for each line:

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Often, the pull-down menus let you limit a search to the Subject of an article.

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Many library databases classify articles by one or more appropriate Subjects. Limiting a search to these Subjects can be quite useful and exact.

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Usually, the pull-down menus also let you search for keywords in an article's Abstract.

The Abstract is normally a concise, single-paragraph summary of an article. The article mght be 80 pages in length but it will have a single-paragraph Abstract.

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Obviously, if your keywords appear in an article's Abstract, it's likely the article is focused on your topic.

Thus, limiting a search to an Abstract can be very useful, especially after a regular search yields a huge numbe of results.

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The search below will limit the results to any journal Source where the title of the journal contains all variants of the term psychology in it.

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But there is another search option that is also useful...

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Take a look at the article title below that appeared in a medical journal in 2006:

Type 2 diabetes does not increase the risk of depression.

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Can there be ANY doubt what this article is about?

Type 2 diabetes does not increase the risk of depression.
Source: CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal, 7/4/2006, 175(1), p42-46.
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Or how about this article title?

Causes and consequences of sociability in bats.
Source: Bioscience: Sep 2008, 58(8), p737-746. Screen13

And yet another article title from a scientific journal:

Exposure to scientific theories affects women's math performance
Source: Science: 10/20/2006. vol. 314(5798). p435-435
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Or how about any of these titles, all of which appeared in journals:

What determines the management of anxiety disorders and its improvement?

Air quality effects of an urban highway speed limit reduction.

The number of gunshot wounds does not predict injury severity and mortality.

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The hallmark of these article TITLEs is that they are informative. They leave no doubt as to the topics (or even some of the conclusions!) of the articles themselves.

What determines the management of anxiety disorders and its improvement?
Source: Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, Apr 2008, 14(2), p259-265.
Air quality effects of an urban highway speed limit reduction.
Source: Atmospheric Environment; Dec 2008, 42(40), p9098-9105.
The number of gunshot wounds does not predict injury severity and mortality.
Source: American Surgeon, Jan 2009, 75(1), p44-47.
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Informative titles like these are especially typical of academic "peer reviewed" journal articles.

What determines the management of anxiety disorders and its improvement?
Source: Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, Apr 2008, 14(2), p259-265.
Air quality effects of an urban highway speed limit reduction.
Source: Atmospheric Environment; Dec 2008, 42(40), p9098-9105.
The number of gunshot wounds does not predict injury severity and mortality.
Source: American Surgeon, Jan 2009, 75(1), p44-47.
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Knowing this, it should be obvious that limiting a keyword search
just to article TITLEs can be very powerful.

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By the way, using the "advanced search" feature might narrow your search results dramatically. Don't be surprised if you go from thousands of hits to just a few or even none.

But if those few records are perfect, well then, using the "advanced search" feature was a success.

It depends on how much information you need that is also available in a given database. Screen19

If you narrowed things too much, then experiment. Try looking for some keywords in the

, and other keywords in the

.

Or maybe keywords in the

, and then in the

.

Depending on the database, any combination of these limits might provide very relevant, very focused information. Screen20

In the end, if you're still having trouble finding the information you need, forget about the "advanced search" feature for a minute, and ask a REFERENCE LIBRARIAN for help. Your reference librarian will be more than happy to provide assistance!

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In conclusion: an "advanced search" feature exists in most library databases. It will contain pull-down menus that can help you limit searches in very useful and specific ways.

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A reference librarian can help you even more! :-)

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