1) Search for the resource the library website www.library.utoronto.ca

• Be aware that new LibrarySearch interface will arrive in 2021. Learn more from the LibrarySearch Tips Guide 

2) If using Google Scholar, set your web browser to recognize you as a UofT Student

• Go to Settings - Library links – Choose ‘University of Toronto Libraries’
• Full instructions to set up Google Scholar to prompt your UTORID 

3) Seek help if you still have access issues.

To search effectively, find the keywords (which are the main ideas) for your research topic. Why? Most search tools don’t understand natural language (i.e. sentences), so searching with keywords can help you find articles on your topic

Choosing Keywords for your Search

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: 

• Will your topic be discussed in the news using scholarly language or would other terminology be more effective?
• Has the terminology changed over time or based on location? 

How to Choose Keywords (UTSC Library) 

 

Transcript avaiable for Library 101 - How to Choose Keywords

Building your Search Strategies

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: 

How to use Boolean Operators (UTSC Library)

 

Transcript Available for Library 101 - Boolean Operators

 

AND (narrows your search)

• "writing technique"  AND Canad* AND poet* 
• "university students"  AND "marketing strategy" 
• "social media"  AND Canad* 

OR (widens your search)

Watch out for US vs Canadian Spelling, synonyms, acronyms

• neighbourhood OR neighborhood  
• (COVID-19 OR  COVID OR "Corona Virus") AND (questionnaire OR survey OR "focus groups")  
  • Use brackets to create separate groups of actions in your search.
• snapchat OR "Instagram Stories" OR "Instagram Story"

NOT (narrows your search by excluding keyword)

Use only when you need to remove topics that overwhelm your search results

• Stress NOT post-traumatic stress  
• (writing OR authorship) NOT criticism

 

Boolean Modifiers (UTSC Library)

 

Transcript available for Library 101 - Boolean Modifiers 

 

Quotations marks (narrows your search)

Search for specific phrases or names or different spellings e.g., hyphens

• "creative writing", "literary non-fiction", "short story" 
• "social media" OR Instagram
• "employee engagement" OR  "employee-engagement" 

Asterisk * (widens your search)

Be aware that this doesn't work in certain databases.

• institut* = institutions, institution's, institutitional
• Canad* = Canada, Canada's, Canadians, Canadian, Canadiana

Brackets (instructs the database on targeting the keywords in your search phrase)

Use only when you need to remove topics that overwhelm your search results

•  (Universit* OR College) AND "student life" NOT (academic OR faculty) 

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.

 

ProQuest  

ProQuest is a platform containing over 100 databases. ProQuest contains scholarly and popular publications (i.e., newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, eBook titles, dissertations and theses) across a variety of different subjects areas, including social sciences, business, arts and humanities.  

 

1) Use the Advanced Search Tool  

The Advanced Search Tool allows you to build your search with multiple keywords that you can combine with Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) from the dropdown menu between the search fields.

There is also to option to limit your results to "Peer reviewed" (i.e., articles in peer-reviewed journals) and "Full text" (i.e., PDF or option to read online is available within ProQuest). These filters are also available on the search results page.

 

2) Sort your Results 

• Sort your results (Relevance, Date) 
  • By Relevance: It is determined by an algorithm that factors in the number of time your search terms appear in the record as well as where in the record your search terms appear.
  • By Date: It may be useful to arrange the results chronologically (oldest first) in order to follow the entire production process of a particular film, from gossip about potential stars to reviews and box-office grosses.
• Learn more about ProQuest Search Results Page (ProQuest Guide)

 

3) Using ProQuest Search Filters

• Narrow your search results using filters on left sidebar.  
  • Peer Review: Click the checkbox if you are seeking journals with peer review editing process (papers are send to experts to assess and provide feedback to the author). Learn more about Peer Review Journals.  
  • Full Text: Limit to items that ProQuest can provide the PDFs or Text 
  • Source Type: Scholarly Journals, Newspapers, Trade Journals (Industry publications), Magazines, Books, Dissertations & Theses,  or Blogs, Podcasts, & Websites‎
  • Publication Year: Last 12 Months, Last 5 Years, Custom Date Range or Specific Date
  • Subject: Look for subject headings tied to the discipline or topic you are interested.You can order the results alphabetically by clicking on Subject at the top of the pop-up window. 
  • Document Type:
    • Scholarly research articles - Feature, Front Page/Cover Story, Article, Literature Review (overview of research trends & findings on a topic)
    • Opinion articles - Review (e.g., book, film, resource) and Editorial (written by editor)
    • Look for in-text citation and bibliographies to identify scholarly works. 
  • Publication Title: Journal of Scholarly Publishing, Rhetorica, The Globe and Mail
  • Language 
• Click on More filters link at the bottom of the filter menu to including: Location, Database, Person, Company/organization 

 

Using the More+ link in Search Results 

Several filters display a More+ link at the bottom that opens a pop up window containing all the filter options. 

• Left column (Include, Exclude) - Use the Include or Exclude checkbox to narrow your search 
• Centre column - Click on the heading in the centre column will reorder the list alphabetically.
• Right column (Count) - Order the filter based on the number of articles tagged with filter options 
• Click Apply to submit the search

 

4) Mark relevant records

If you find interesting articles, be sure to . 

• Go to the search results page and click the check box to the left of the article title  
• When you are ready to email the articles to yourself, scroll to the top of the results list and click on Email link (on right side) or click on the Folder icon in the top right corner of the screen. 
• Set your preferred citation style and email the marked records to yourself.

 

 

5. Create a free ProQuest MyResearch account.

• Click on the person icon in the upper right corner of the screen to access MyResearch.
• Create a free account with your UToronto email.
• Save your searches and selected items in your MyResearch profile 

 

Learn more about ProQuest 

More details can be found in ProQuest Search Tips Guide