Alert:
All Learning Commons & Library spaces are closed Friday, May 10, 2023 for staff development.
The second floor of McCormick Library is closed beginning May 10th for elevator modernization and repairs. For details, see our Alerts page.
All Learning Commons & Library spaces are closed Friday, May 10, 2023 for staff development.
The second floor of McCormick Library is closed beginning May 10th for elevator modernization and repairs. For details, see our Alerts page.
Identifying key concepts and what other words or phrases describe that concept you will get more meaningful results. Here is an example of how you can break down a question into concepts and their related phrases.
| Original Phrase | Related words or ideas |
|---|---|
| eyewitness testimony | eyewitness identification/misidentification, false testimony, police lineup, eyewitness errors, lineup identification, eyewitness evidence, eyewitness memory |
| wrongful conviction | innocence, false imprisonment, exoneration, false arrest, wrongful incarceration, criminal justice errors |
| how often | statistics, data, history, frequency, extent |
When you type things into database search boxes, you are, by default, doing what is known as a keyword search. When you are looking for information on certain topics it can be helpful to do a subject search instead. However, some databases' subject headers are not as robust or descriptive, so a highly targeted keyword search might be better in some cases. Here are some key differences between the two search types of searches:
| Keyword Search | Subject Search |
|---|---|
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