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Search Tips

Tips for searching Google & Library Databases

Updated September 9, 2025

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Overview

The key to being a smart online researcher is to apply these simple techniques when performing searches in Google and the Library’s Databases:

  • Boolean Operators
  • Phrases
  • Truncation
  • Stop Words
  • Keywords vs. Subjects
  • Fields

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Boolean Operators

Boolean operators connect your search words together to either narrow or broaden your results.

3 basic boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT

Use AND in a search to:

  • Narrow results
  • Tell databases that ALL search terms must be present in the results
  • Examples:
    • cloning AND humans AND ethics
    • Misogyny and military
    • Misogyny and politics
    • Misogyny and feminism

In some databases AND is implied. Google automatically puts an AND in between all search terms. Keep in mind that search terms may not be connected together the way you want.

Use OR in a search to:

  • Broaden results
  • Example: cloning OR genetics OR ethics

Use NOT in a search to:

  • Narrow results
  • Exclude words from your search
  • Example: cloning NOT sheep

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Phrases

Google and databases allow you to search for words next to each other as phrases.

Group these phrases together by using quotation marks around them.

Keep phrases short and concise.

You may miss relevant resources if the phrase searched for is not used in the source exactly as printed. Try a variety of phrasing.

Examples:

  • “Genetic engineering”
  • “Political corruption” and Pennsylvania
  • “Propaganda in the media”
  • “Me Too Movement” and “Entertainment Industry”

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Truncation

Truncation, also called stemming, is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings.

To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the symbol * at the end.

The database or Google will return results that include any ending of the root word.

Examples:

  • child* = child, children, childhood
  • teen* = teen, teens, teenager, teenaged
  • genetic* = genetic, genetics, genetically
  • misogyn* = misogynists, misogyny

​

Similar to truncation, wildcards substitute a symbol for one letter of a word. This is useful if a word is spelled in different ways, but has the same meaning. Use the symbol ?

Examples:

  • Wom?n = woman, women
  • Colo?r = color, colour

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Stop Words

Stop words are frequently occuring, insignificant words that appear in sources.

Many databases ignore common words from your search entry. If included, the database would return too many results.

Exclude these words from your search. Or use boolean operators to include them if they are significant.

Examples:

  • “propaganda in the media” = 1 result in GALE
  • Media propaganda = 300 results in GALE

Common stop words are:

  • A
  • An
  • The
  • In
  • Of
  • On
  • Are
  • Be
  • If
  • Into
  • Which

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Keywords vs. Subjects

Keywords

  • Natural language
  • Can combine together in many ways
  • Databases look for keywords anywhere in source.
  • May yield too many results
  • May yield irrelevant results

Start with a keyword search. Browse the results. Choose 2-3 that are relevant. Look at the Subjects listed for these sources. Redo the search using those terms. Your results will be more precise than your original keyword search.

Subjects

  • Pre-defined, controlled vocabulary
  • Less flexible, exact terms
  • Databases look for subjects only in subject heading, where more relevant words appear
  • May yield too few results.
  • Results usually very relevant to topic

Examples from GALE: Gun control, Gun violence, National Rifle Association, Right to bear arms, Firearms ownership, Firearms industry, Firearms, School violence

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Fields

Records in databases are made up of fields containing specific pieces of information.

Common fields include:

  • Author
  • Title
  • Journal title
  • Abstract
  • Publisher
  • Date/year of publication
  • Subject

Limiting your search to specific database fields can help you find more precise results.

For example, if you are looking for very current sources, you can limit your date/year of publication to “2021” or “After January 1, 2018”

You can combine words and fields together with boolean operators depending on how precise you want to be.

Google has an Advanced Search option that is similar to database fields.