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Education

Collected resources, library services, and research tips for African American studies.

Boolean Search Tips

When searching databases, be sure to strategize with your keywords! 

Remember, you are using Boolean Logic: 

  • Always capitalize Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) in your search statement.
  • AND
    This strategy will narrow your search. Think about the center of a venn diagram. 
  • OR
    This strategy will broaden your search. Put words linked by OR inside parentheses ( ). A good way to remember is OR=MORE
  • Quotation marks " "
    Using quotation marks will ensure that the database finds results that use that exact phrase. 
  • Asterisk * 
    The * symbol tells the database to search for alternative word endings, this is called truncation. For example: cultur* will search for culture, cultures, cultural

Using Keywords

When using library databases, it is always a good idea to keep a running list of keywords and phrases as you go through resources. Think of these as your tools in digging through all this information. A good place to look is in the listed Subjects, or indexing terms, on a resource's record page. These terms are how the article is tagged, organized, and retrieved. Some records also have additional 'Author Supplied Keywords' that function the same. They are also hyperlinks themselves and will take you to a result list. 

For example, using the keyword 'marine fish' will retrieve this article titled:

Feeding habits of mudskipper fish in the mangrove ecosystem on The Northern Coast of Aceh 

On the record page, below the abstract, there are these subject terms listed: 

Fisheries
Fish
Food
Feeding Behavior
Marine Biology
Crustaceans
Phytoplankton 
Intestine
Marine Animals 
Automation 
Shellfish
 

 

Depending on your research topic or questions, these could be very helpful in expanding or narrowing your search. You will likely find other topics depending on what the paper is about. Any of these combined with using 'AND marine fish' will produce more results. See the below table for an example. 

 

Narrow Results
Expand Results 
New Topic 
Shellfish - a subgenus of of marine fish  Fish - Includes all species of fish, including marine fish Food - Many marine fish are edible but could be connected to any discipline, very vague 
Phytoplankton - a class of plankton  Marine Animals - Includes all marine fish and other animals Intestine - Not clear how this is connected, requires understanding the article to get a clear idea
Crustaceans - a subgenus of of marine fish  Marine Biology - Discipline under which marine fish could be studied Automation - Not clear how this is connected, requires understanding the article to get a clear idea
Fisheries - Ties this search to an industry or profession, would include all species of fish and could expand results though  Feeding Behavior - An area of study for a marine biologist

 

Finding Physical Books

If you are looking to explore the library stacks for a book on [subject here], below are the call numbers indicating their location. These stacks can be found on the 10th floor Murray-Green Library and the Schaumburg Library as well. 

Library of Congress Call Number Subject(s)