This tutorial teaches students how to effectively search for information from various sources to write research papers. It covers how to formulate search statements using keywords and Boolean operators to search tools like the library catalog, databases, and the internet. Students will learn search techniques like phrase searching, truncation, and field searching to maximize relevant results. The goal is to equip students with the skills to find, evaluate, and apply information from different sources for their academic work.

1. RESEARCH 101
This is a self-paced tutorial to provide you with the necessary
skills to find and use information and to evaluate and use it
wisely for writing research papers and essays.
You will learn how to answer this question:
1. How do I search?

2. Using Search Tools
Now that you have an understanding of the different types of information available, you
are ready to explore the search tools and apply strategies that will help you located the
information you need.
• In this section you will:
• Apply search strategies to maximize relevant results
• Search OASIS – the library catalog to find encyclopedias and
books
• Search EBSCO and ProQuest databases to quickly find journal,
magazine and newspaper articles
• Understand how the internet can be used for academic research

3. Basics of searching
• Search tools help you locate information. Knowing how
best to use them can save you time when looking for
material for an assignment.
• What is a search tool?
• What is a search statement?
• What are Boolean Operators?
• What is phrase searching?
• What is truncation?
• What is field searching?
• How do I use parenthesis?

4. A search tool indexes millions of records and provides
features to find ones matching your search terms. For each
record in the library catalog or article database there are
fields representing:
Author
Title
Subject
Publisher
Keywords
and more
Selecting the right search terms and using the right features
enables you to retrieve relevant records.

5. A search statement is your research question written in a
way the search tool can interpret. It is made up of words or
phrases representing key concepts of your topic and search
operators which group concepts together.
Example:
Topic: Effects of tobacco advertisements on teenagers
Concepts: tobacco advertising; teenagers
Search statement: (tobacco or cigarette* or nicotine) and
(advertis* or commerical* or marketing) and (teen* or youth or
adolescent*)

6. Boolean operators tell a search how to interpret a series of keywords. They are useful in narrowing down a
specific subject or combining like terms.
The main operators are:
And = retrieves records that contain all words/phrases. Used to link them together.
Or = retrieves record that contain any of the words or phrases. Used to find items that express the same
subject using different terms. (teenagers or adolescents)
Example:
Topic: Fisheries in Iceland
AND Fisheries and Iceland
will retrieve all records that contain both words
Fisheries Iceland
Topic: Homeless youth (synonyms for youth should be used)
OR youth or teenagers or adolescents
will retrieve all records containing any of the words providing a
broad list of results
teenagers
adolescents youth

7. Phrase searching
If you are searching for an expression containing 2 or more words you may
need to use quotation marks (“ “). This allows the search tool to locate
only the records that include the exact phrase.
Example: Biological diversity
Searching without quotation marks you may get results that
contain both words and not necessarily those that contain the exact phrase
“biological diversity.”
Using quotation marks ensures that results retrieved contain only
the exact phrase.

8. Truncation allows for the retrieval of records showing words with
alternate endings. The asterisk (*) is a popular symbol and works in most
search tools.
Example: If your topic deals with the environment, using the truncation symbol in a
search tool may retrieve additional records that might have been overlooked and
will save you time in your research.
environment* will retrieve:
environmentally
environmentalism
environments
environmentalist

9. Field searching
Each record in a search tool contains various fields (author, title,
subject, keyword, etc). You can search for information contained in
a particular field.
For instance, if you know the exact title of a book, you can select
the title field when searching the library catalog.

10. Parenthesis are used when your search statement includes more than one
concept. Use them to separate each concept in your search.
Example:
Topic: Indoor air quality on workplace productivity.
Concepts: indoor air quality; workplace productivity
Search statement:
(indoor air quality or indoor air pollution or air quality or air
pollution) and (workplace or work environment or office) and
productivity

11. Oasis Library Catalog
Northwestern College’s catalog is known as Oasis. It is used to find items the
library owns.
• What is in Oasis? • How do I search?
• Books, magazines, • Search using anywhere
journals, encyclopedias, will look for keywords in
newspapers, textbooks.
Oasis does not index a variety of fields. This is
articles and should not be a good starting point for
used to search for journal finding books on your
articles. Connect to Oasis topic.
directly:
http://www.tiny.cc/blf8j • Search using subject
will give you more
focused results than a
keyword search

12. Oasis searching
Search using Subject:
Search using Anywhere:
Results show the location, call number,
barcode, and status of the item:

13. Call numbers ensure all books on the
same topic are shelved together. Each
book has a unique call number, made up
of numbers and letters.

14. Databases
Finding articles is an important part of the information research process. EBSCO
and ProQuest will allow you to search for articles for your assignments.
• What is in a database? • How do I choose the right
• Articles from newspapers, database?
magazines, academic • Select a database that best
journals, trade publications, corresponds to your topic
government documents, book from the list provided by
reviews, and book chapters. EBSCO and ProQuest
• Just like encyclopedias, there
are: • Ask the librarian at the
• General databases that cover a reference desk for assistance
broad range of topics and
thousands of journals or call extension 2304
• Subject-specific databases that
focus on a particular subject or
topic and provide results form
relevant journals.

15. Searching Databases
• Search using keywords • Search using subject terms
• Databases index thousands of • Some databases use
articles. Using a keyword search standardized subject terms and
is often the best way to begin phrases to describe difference
identifying relevant results. topics. Using standard
• Take time to explore the features terminology can be helpful
of the database and familiarize when searching for a concept
yourself with the layout, menu, that can be expressed many
options, and help sections of different ways.
each one • Look for a thesaurus or index
feature to take advantage of this
search option.
Some databases provide direct access to full-text articles
while others provide only a citation and abstract. When full
text is not available ask your librarian about inter-library loan.

16. Tip! – Subject Terms
Every database develops its
own thesaurus or list of
standardized subject terms.
Do Not assume that terms used
in one database are used in
another.
Tip! – PRECISION
Articles are more specific than
books. Search statements for
databases will need more
keywords, concepts, related
terms to get good results.
More precise = More relevant

17. Searching the internet
The internet is a good resource for finding information on almost any topic. There are
many ways to search the internet – the route to take often depends on the kind of
information you need. Keep in mind that not everything is free and you need to assess
the quality of the documents you find.
• Search Engines (Google, • Subject Directories (Yahoo!
Yahoo!) Directory, Open Directory
• Advantages: easy to use, index Project)
millions of websites, provide powerful • Advantages: organizes websites into
search capabilities subjects, browse by category, quality
• Limits: searches without evaluating can be better than search engines if
quality, can be overwhelming with they are complied by human editors,
irrelevant results, no standards to useful starting point for research
indexing pages – often first results • Limits: smaller in size, uses various
have paid for placement classification schemes
• Tip – Check for advanced search
features
Academic Resources (Google Scholar) – more publishers and researchers
are providing access to articles on the web. However, they may not be free and
using a database is still the best choice.

18. Summary
• For each assignment you will likely need to use a
combination of tools to find information:
• Oasis library catalog – for books and encyclopedias
• Databases (EBSCO and ProQuest) – for academic articles
• Web – as a starting point, or for quick facts
Using Boolean operators, phrase searching, truncation, field
searching, and parenthesis ensures the search tool interprets your
search statement correctly and you get relevant results.
Up Next: Working with
your results