Once you have identified relevant terminology and selected the most appropriate databases, it's time to start searching!
Most databases work on the same principles and use the boolean operators, AND, OR, NOT together with other techniques to construct complex searches. Rather than typing in a whole sentence, use the concepts and terms identified in the planning stage to build up your search syntax. Deconstruct your search into its component parts, combine synonyms together using the OR command and cross concepts using the AND command. Separating your search into individual concepts will help to provide a clear structure and will be vital if you need to edit your search at a later date too.
Boolean operators are used in most bibliographic databases and enable you to effecively search for groups of synonyms from the same concept using OR prior to combining different concepts together using AND. This allows you to perform sophisticated and comprehensive searches.
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AND Narrows the search and will look for material with all of your search terms. Use this to combine different concepts together. |
OR Broadens the search and will look for material with any of your search terms. Use this to combine synonyms together. |
NOT Narrows the search and will look for material with the first search term but not the second. Use this with caution - you may miss key research by excluding terms. |
| assessment AND science finds material that contains both assessment and science | assessment OR science finds material that contains either assessment or science | assessment NOT science finds material that contains assessment but not science |
There are a number of techniques which you may need to consider when searching the databases (especially if you are searching those that do not include a thesaurus). These techniques can help you to structure your search query so as to ensure that you retrieve relevant results. Please note that the symbols used vary across databases so remember to check the help sections before you start searching.
| Phrase searching |
Usually represented by double quotation marks (" ") - enables you to search for an exact phrase rather than keywords appearing in a random order - this will focus your search and bring back more relevant results (note that Scopus uses { } to search for exact phrase). |
| Wildcards |
Usually represented by a question mark (?) - replaces a single letter and is useful for retrieving alternative spellings (British vs American English) and simple plurals: |
| Truncation |
Usually represented by an asterix (*) - finds different word endings and broadens your search: ** exercise caution if using this as you may retrieve large numbers of irrelevant results, especially if the root of the word is common or very short. For example, if looking for material on 'carer' or 'caring', truncating after 'car' will also bring up results about cars! ** |
| Proximity searching |
A more advanced search technique used by some databases (Scopus and Web of Science for example). Enables you to tell the database how close one search term should be to another. N5 for example will find words a maximum of 5 words apart from each other, regardless of order. |
| Snowballing (backward & forward) |
Backward snowballing - enables you to find material quite quickly and easily by analysing the references of relevant papers. Note that each piece of new literature, will be older than your initial set. Forward snowballing - involves identifying those papers that have cited the initial paper being examined. * exercise caution if using this technique - it is a rather haphazard way of searching and is not systematic. |
| Backwards searching |
A useful technique which involves exploring and analysing the list of subject headings in relevant articles and identifying those that you wish to incorporate into subsequent searches. |
| Citation searching |
Citation databases (such as Scopus or Web of Science) enable you to see how many times a previously published paper has been cited in the current literature. It can therefore be a useful way to find other relevant articles. However, citation searching does not enable you to locate material published prior to the initial article, therefore limiting your search. Furthermore, there can be many reasons for citing (negative citations, ethnocentricity, self-citation) and a high citation count does not necessarily indicate that the research is of a high quality. |
| Other advice to consider |
Try to avoid one long search string which you enter into one search box, break your search down and use a different search box for each concept - this will help if you structure your search and will be vital if you need to edit your search at a later date too! Set up an account on each database you use - this is separate to your Raven account and will enable you to save your searches and re-run and amend them at a later date. |
Most databases include in-built facets (date, language, source type for example) which can help you to broaden or narrow your results. Apply the same limits in each database you use to ensure consistency across your literature search.
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Too many results? |
Not enough results? |
| Limit by date range - but remember to consider how this may affect your research and ensure that you apply the same limit to all databases you search | Try to broaden your search terms - for example, search for "special educational needs" rather than just autism |
| Combine new concepts in your search - add an age level descriptor for example | Combine fewer sets of synonyms together - the more terms you use, the narrower your search will be and the greater the risk of there being very few or even no results at all. Combining 2 or 3 terms is usually best. |
| Language - limit to English language publications only for example | Use a thesaurus where available - this will help you to broaden your search terms |
| Limit by type of material - but consider how this may affect your research. If you are researching a very new area then publications may be mostly limited to grey literature. Remember to apply the same limit to all databases you search | Conduct keyword searches - use this in addition to thesaurus terms. Especially relevant if you are researching a new area that does not yet have controlled vocabulary terms |
The video below demonstrates how to search a thesaurus and how to select and add terms to your search. It uses the British Education Index as an example but the functionality is the same on both ERIC and PsycInfo.
As an alternative, see the walk-through PDF below: