Search Techniques

Search Techniques - Other Technniques

... for search engines on both the subscription electronic resources and the web

PHRASE SEARCHES
    Often keywords are more than one word. Most search engines let you put quotation marks around these so only results with the exact phrase are listed.
 Example:
"rap music"
TRUNCATION
    Shortening a keyword to its basic root and adding a special character (usually an asterisk "*"  or "?") at the end will tell the computer to search for variations on the word.
 Example:
    Searching for politic* will find:

    POLITICS, POLITICAL, POLITICIAN, etc.

Note: Check the search engine help screens to see if this can be done.  It's most common on subscription databases.

PARENTHESES
    Combines concepts and techniques. The search engine will search for what's grouped or nested inside the parentheses first.
 Example:
("rap music" OR "hip hop") AND censorship

ACC Study Guide Series

© Austin Community College, Library Services, 2005.

ACC Home Page || Library Home Page || Library Guides

We'd like to hear from you! If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, send email to library@austincc.edu


Last updated 3/1/05 mp