Skip to Main Content

AN 470: Bioarchaeology: Search Terms

This LibGuide is in support of Dr. Gregoricka's AN 470 course.

Search Terms

What theory are you using?

 

What are other terms for your theory? These can mean the same thing or be similar. Theories evolve over time as different experts study and use them.

 

Keep track of what search terms you use. Try out different terms in multiple databases. Databases are listed in the AN 470 Articles Page.

Keyword Worksheet

What's in a Search?

Databases do not understand questions like Google can.

Databases talk through search queries. 

Search queries are combinations of search terms, Boolean Operators, and punctuation.

  • Search terms
    • Break your research question down into individual words or small phrases.
  • Boolean Operators
    • Follow the Boolean Operators page.
  • Punctuation Marks
    • " " - Quotation marks means you want that exact phrase to be searched. Not all databases follow this.
      • "Carnegie Library" - you only get resources that have "Carnegie Library" exactly.
    • ? - Truncation/Wildcard symbol. Tells the database to substitute any letter there.
      • bibliograph? = bibliography, bibliographies, bibliographic...
      • read? = read, reading, reader, readmit, readdress...

Tricks for Choosing Search Terms

Using Your Research Question

Turn your research question into search terms.

  1. Write out your research question. How do short-term employment contracts affect hospital healthcare workers' mental well-being?
  2. Identify the important words or terms. Look at the nouns that specify the scope of your topic. 
    1. What people? Contract healthcare workers
    2. Where? Hospitals
    3. What kind of issue? Mental health
  3. Write out each important word/term. List synonyms or terms that have the same feel.

Using an Article You Like

Look at that article's keywords. Keywords are usually written underneath the article's listing in your search results. 

Different databases use different keywords. By reusing the keywords, you are learning to speak that database's "language".

Using Search Suggestions

Some databases will give you suggestions for search terms when you start typing in a search box. These are terms that the database absolutely recognizes. 

Sometimes, the suggestions will be several terms in the same text box, all separated by the Boolean Operator or. This means that the search engine will search for all those terms at once.

Always check before you select a string of terms. Some of the terms might not be equivalent for your specific research topic!