Skip to Main Content

IDIS 4004: IDIS Capstone Seminar Non-Education (Diakite)

Search Tip #1: And or OR

Combine your search terms with AND or OR:

These are called Boolean Operators or search commands for describing what you want to find in a database.
AND NARROWS RESULTS results must include both words e.g. rubrics AND evaluation
OR BROADENS RESULTS results can include either word e.g. assessment OR evaluation

Search Tip #2: Research Article Trifecta

Search Tip #3: Using Quotation Marks (" ") and Asterisk (*)

Using Quotation Marks and Asterisk

The approach you take when entering your search terms in a library database will affect the results you get.  Before building a search, think about how you want to combine your search terms.

Quotation Marks: if you want a group of words to appear exactly as written, place the words in quotation marks.  You might use quotation marks so those terms appear as a phrase and not isolated from one another.  Example: "educational reform"

Asterisk: Using an asterisk (*) at the end of a word will bring back variations of the word.

Example: educat* will retrieve results with the words educate, educator, education, etc.  

Warning: Be careful to not place the asterisk to early in the word because it may retrieve irrelevant results.

Example: ed** will retrieve educate, educator, and education, but it will also retrieve results with words like edge, edamame, edacity  etc. which are not likely on point.