Think of the language that will be the most effective for your search and keep track of keywords (search terms) that produce the best results. Ask yourself:
Transcript avaiable for Library 101 - How to Choose Keywords
Some databases allow you to enter search terms on separate lines (e.g., enter a keyword the top line and researcher or activist's last name below, so as to articulate your search request)
Using Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) and Boolean Modifiers (quotation marks, asterisk, parentheses) allows you to widen or narrow the search for your keywords and target your research topic:
Transcript Available for Library 101 - Boolean Operators
Watch out for US vs Canadian Spelling, synonyms, acronyms
Use only when you need to remove topics that overwhelm your search results
Transcript available for Library 101 - Boolean Modifiers
Search for specific phrases or names or different spellings e.g., hyphens
Be aware that this doesn't work in certain databases.
Use only when you need to remove topics that overwhelm your search results
Search operators are a set of commands that can be used in almost every search engine, database, or online catalogue. The most popular operators are AND, OR, and NOT. These must all be in capital letters to work. Other operators include parentheses, truncation, and phrases.
Use the following search operators to broaden or narrow your results.
| AND | Use this word between concepts to narrow your results. | e.g. sensory AND perception |
| OR | Use this word between related concepts. | e.g. habitat OR ecosystem |
| NOT | Use this word to exclude terms from your search. | e.g. virus NOT corona |
| Quotations | Use quotes to search for a multi-word concept. | e.g. "International Year of Indigenous Languages" |
| * | Use the asterisk symbol to include alternate word endings. | e.g. cultur* will search for culture, cultural, and culturally |
| ? | Use a question mark to include variations in spelling in your search. | e.g. wom?n will search for woman, women |
| ( ) | Use brackets to create separate groups of actions in your search. | e.g. "climate change" AND (ecosystem* OR habitat*) AND Ontario |
Pictured below is an example of how all of the above search operators can be combined to refine a search that will help locate sources describing the experience of women participating in the Black Lives Matter movement in Canada.
A topic search uses the full item record to figure out how that item is described by the library. You can then use that linked-description to find items on the same subject.
First search by keyword:
Next choose the most relevant result and open the full record by clicking the title:
Once you have opened the full record, scroll down to the "Details" section:
There is a lot of information in this section, but the part you need is next to the heading "Subject":
Of the four subjects assigned to this book, "Women video gamers" is probably the closest to the topic of women and gaming. To view other items assigned the same subject, just click Women video gamers and a new set of search results will appear that are all assigned the same topic phrase.
Also look at the subjects assigned to the new results. You may find a related subject that fits even more closely with your topic. For instance, the book highlighted in the following image is described with the subject "Women video gamers", but also the subjects:
Video games -- Social aspects -- Women
Computer games -- Social aspects -- Women
Video games industry -- Social aspects -- Women
