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ENGL 101 - English Composition I - Keiter

Search Strategies

Searches are made of of three main ingredients: the things you type in, directions on how to search for them, and the rules about the things you are searching. 

The things you type in are keywords. Those keywords are then combined according to the default directions (known as boolean operators) to be searched for within each item within the database. You can also provide a set of rules, or limiters, to tell the database what items to search.

The result list is the product of the ingredients you gave the database.

The End Result

decorativeWhen you correctly tell the database what words to use and how, it will give you back a results list containing records for each item that matches your request. Many databases will highlight where your search words show up in the record, so that you can see the context in which your word is used. The result list also provides basic information to help you evaluate the relevance and fit of the item, such as the name of the publication, the date it was published, and the type of item (such as a magazine or scholarly article) being shown. You can further limit your results using the limiters section of the database.