Skip to Main Content

Choosing & Using Databases

 

When you search the library databases, entering a whole question like How do environmental greenwashing claims get challenged online?  usually won’t get the best results because library databases don’t work like Google — their search algorithms rely on search strings to find relevant sources.

 

A search string is a carefully planned combination of keywords, synonyms, specific punctuation, and Booleans or connectors (AND OR NOT). Some databases also use controlled vocabulary that allows for more precise searching by focusing on the content's meaning rather than on the keywords. PubMed, for example, uses MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) while CINAHL has its own subject headings.

 

Start broad, then refine. Build, test, and tweak your search strings as you learn more about your topic and the database’s filters or limiters.

Too Many Results? Too Few Results?
  • add more keywords
    • e.g. singapore OR asia
  • change your keywords
    • vehicles instead of cars
  • limit by date
    • covid related research goes back to 2019 only
  • use the limiters/filters
    • e.g. article or document type, peer-reviewed, language, etc.
  • change the date limiter
    • e.g. from 5 years back to 10 or 15 years
  • use a different database
    • sometimes a database will not have sources relevant to your topic, try a number of different search strings before moving on 
  • broaden your topic
    • e.g. from singapore to asia

A general rule of thumb is that if the first 3 to 5 results are not relevant to your topic, you need to make changes your search string. 

 

The most commonly used punctuation in search strings are:

  • round brackets ( ) used around synonyms with the Boolean OR, e.g. (clean OR green)

 

  • quotation marks / inverted commas " " used to indicate a phrase, as opposed to separate keywords. Phrase searching helps you find exact words in the exact order...

searching for blood pressure - without quotes - might find results with just "blood" or just "pressure"

searching for "blood pressure" - with quotes - finds only those results with the exact phrase "blood pressure"

 

  • truncation symbol * used to instruct the search engine or database to search for all words beginning with the letters before the symbol, e.g. commun* to find communal, community, communities, communicate, communicable...

Please note that not all databases accept the truncation symbol. You will need to test to see what works best in each database

 

 

AccessPhysiotherapy

  • for textbooks, procedure and exercise videos, images, and self-assessment tools 

(video - 3.19 mins)

CINAHL Complete

  • for journal articles, from the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature 

(video - 4.31 mins)

EBSCOhost 

  • for access to journal articles & more across the following disciplines...
    • Business Source Complete
    • Communication & Mass Media Complete
    • Hospitality & Tourism Complete
    • Regional Business News
    • Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine Source

(video - 3.39 mins)

Cochrane Library

  • for trials, systematic reviews, and more

(video - 3.35 mins)

 

 

OVID - Basic search 

  • for journal articles in the health sciences. Full text included. Select the option to include the Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Practice database in your Ovid search

(video - 0.31 mins)

OVID - Advanced search 

  • for journal articles in the health sciences. Full text included. Select the option to include the Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Practice database in your Ovid search

(video - 0.42 mins)

PubMed 

  • for journal articles in biomedicine and health. Includes MEDLINE

(video - 4.22 mins)

ScienceDirect 

  • for journal articles in chemical engineering, chemistry, computer science, engineering, finance, food technology, health sciences, hospitality management, and more

(ScienceDirect guide - no sound)

Web of Science 

  • for journal articles 

(Clarivate Support website)

  

Search Statement/String Builder

Build effective search queries from your research question

 
1
Enter Your Research Question

Start by clearly defining your research problem or question.

2
Add Your Key Terms

Identify the main concepts from your research question.

Your Research Question: ""
Key Term 1:
Key Term 2:
Key Term 3 (Optional):
3
Add Synonyms and Related Terms

For each key term, add synonyms or related terms.

4
Review and Generate Your Search String

Review your terms and generated search string. Copy the search string to use in academic databases.

Your Generated Search String:

 

 

Based on coding by Claude.ai and the interactive guide by the University of Western Australia Library at https://guides.library.uwa.edu.au/compose_search/try_it under the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.