Database Search Tips
Boolean Operators
Use AND, OR, NOT to narrow down your search results
Truncation *
use the * to truncate a search term that may have multiple relevant endings.
ex. searching for child* will find results with the words: child, child's, children
Quotation marks
Put quotation marks around phrases to search for the phrase rather than the words separately.
ex. "physical therapy" will only retrieve results with the phrase physical therapy.
Database Limiters (Often found on the Advance Search Screen)
Use database limiters to narrow down your search results: full-text articles only, a certain date range, or only peer-reviewed articles, evidence based practice research
Tips to Improve your Search
Limit to Academic Journals
Limiting your search to Academic journals helps you eliminate news articles, book reviews, magazines and trade publications.
Search by Subject
Limiting the search by subject will help you find articles with your search terms as a primary focus of the article.
Backup your Research
You can email an article, save it to Google Drive, print a copy, or save the Permalink. (See the green box in the image.)
- To access the Permalink, click the
at the bottom of the green box in the image. - Then copy the permalink.
Use Boolean Operators in your search
Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT)
AND finds both terms, OR finds one or both, NOT finds one term, but excludes the other
Using Limits to refine your Search
Limit your Search to Academic Journals
Limiting your search to Academic journals helps you eliminate news articles, book reviews, magazines and trade publications. Keep in mind that you may want to look at newspaper articles too.
Limit your Search by Subject
Limiting the search by subject will help you find articles with your search terms as a primary focus of the article.
Session link vs Permalink
The Permalink is the permanent link to the article. To access the Permalink, click the link icon at the bottom of the green box in the image. Then copy the permalink. (Do not use the one time Session Link at the top of the page. It will not bring you back to the article.)