How do you use advanced search features and tools in a database to refine your search query?

1 Boolean operators

Boolean operators are words that you can use to combine or exclude keywords in your search query. The most common ones are AND, OR, and NOT. AND narrows your search by finding results that contain both keywords. OR broadens your search by finding results that contain either keyword. NOT excludes results that contain a certain keyword. For example, if you are looking for articles on social media and mental health, you can use AND to find results that mention both terms: social media AND mental health. If you want to find articles that mention either term, you can use OR: social media OR mental health. If you want to exclude articles that mention a specific term, such as depression, you can use NOT: social media AND mental health NOT depression. You can also use parentheses to group keywords and operators: (social media OR online communication) AND (mental health OR well-being).

2 Filters and facets

Filters and facets are options that you can use to limit your search results by certain criteria, such as publication date, source type, language, subject, or peer review status. Filters and facets are usually located on the side or the top of the results page in a database. You can select one or more filters or facets to narrow down your results and focus on the most relevant sources for your research. For example, if you are looking for recent and scholarly articles on social media and mental health, you can use filters or facets to limit your results by date range (e.g., last five years), source type (e.g., academic journals), and peer review status (e.g., peer reviewed).

4 Field searching

Field searching is a technique that allows you to search for keywords or phrases in a specific part of a record or a document, such as the title, the abstract, the author, the subject, or the full text. Field searching can help you find more relevant and focused results in a database. You can use field searching by using drop-down menus, prefixes, or tags in your search query. For example, if you are looking for articles on social media and mental health, you can use field searching to find results that have these terms in the title or the abstract, rather than in the full text. You can use drop-down menus to select the field you want to search in, such as title or abstract. You can use prefixes or tags to indicate the field you want to search in, such as TI for title or AB for abstract: TI:(social media) AND AB:(mental health).

5 Sorting and saving

Sorting and saving are features that allow you to organize and manage your search results in a database. Sorting allows you to arrange your results by different criteria, such as relevance, date, title, or author. Saving allows you to store your results in a folder, an email, a citation manager, or a file. Sorting and saving can help you review and evaluate your results and keep track of your sources for your research. You can use sorting and saving by using buttons, icons, or links in the results page or the record page in a database. For example, if you are looking for articles on social media and mental health, you can use sorting and saving to sort your results by date or relevance, and save your results in a folder or an email for later access.