Top Ten Database Search Tips Tutorial      


Introduction

Search Terms

Database Selection

Start the Search

Advanced Search

Subject Headings

Boolean

Truncation

Limiting

Adapt the Search

Web Concerns

Printable Checklist

 Web Concerns: No Subject Headings

Encountering useless web pages are only one problem in using the Internet for research. There are many other major issues.

One problem is that nearly all search engines lack the sophisticated search capabilities that both library catalogue and databases provide. You can't do a search on a subject heading in Google because it doesn't include subject headings. It just searches the full-text of web pages. Because of this, searches will often return results of thousands and thousands of web pages.

 

You will get better search results using subscription databases and library catalogue rather than Internet search engines such as Google or Yahoo!.

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