Library databases use keyword search, which is different from the natural language searching we use in Google and other tools. These two types of search each have their benefits and drawbacks. We can construct very defined search queries in library databases. There can be a learning curve to this, but you can do it! Keep reading to get started.
What is your topic? What do you know about that topic already? What words are associated with that topic?
Here's an example: my topic is social media and mental health among college students. What are other terms related to each part of my topic?
| social media | mental health | college students |
|---|---|---|
|
TikTok Instragram scrolling doomscrolling screentime |
anxiety depression self-esteem wellbeing stress |
university students young adults undergraduate students |
These words in each column are not synonyms! I've collected related terms, which might overlap or be related in various ways.
To do a broad search, you could search for just one term, like "anxiety." This will yield a lot of results, many of which might not be relevant. To do a more directed search, you can use the words OR and AND, which in the world of keyword search are called Boolean operators, to combine search terms. Here is how it might look in PsycInfo:
This tells the database that I am interested in articles that contain at least one term from each search box. Do you want to see the results from this search? Check it out at the link below!
Think about your current assignment or project. Skim the search results to see if some of them might be suitable for this purpose. Here are some things you might consider:
Open up an article record and read its abstract, which is a summary of what research was done. You should also pay attention to the journal it was published in, the date of publication, and the keywords or subject terms that it's labelled with in the database. These are all details that help you learn about the article and its context.
When you identify a relevant article that you might want to read, use the cite tool (often a quotation mark symbol) to get a draft APA citation of the article. Save that in a document so you keep track of what you've found. You should also use one of the save options, like downloading the article PDF or emailing the article record to yourself.
Searching usually is not simple or linear. You are learning about what research has been published on your topic, and you will learn a lot through the search process. You might do several searches in the same database, and you may also try searching in other databases. They each have different journals.
Continue to the next page of this guide for more on the structure of research articles and what to expect from them.