Geography

THE TIPS BELOW WILL HELP YOU GET STARTED.

REMEMBER, THERE IS NO ONE RIGHT WAY TO SEARCH FOR ARTICLES IN A DATABASE. 

BE PATIENT. BE CREATIVE. 

Keyword searching is an effective method for finding information in any computerized database, whether it's the Library's academic search tool Omni, an online index (e.g. Web of Science or Sociological Abstracts), or an Internet search engine (e.g. Google Scholar).  Once you learn the basics, you are capable of searching anywhere, with better results.

Before you begin a keyword search, think about your topic. Do some background reading to become familiar with your topic and the words used to describe it.  Decide on some words (terms) to express the most important concepts, words you would expect to find in every item of interest to you.

With a keyword search you look for a word, no matter where that word appears. If you like, you can specify that the word be in a particular field (e.g. the title, author, or subject), but it can be in any position (beginning, middle, or end).

• Think of other words which express the same concepts as those you're looking for.  Keep in mind that the system searches for the exact letters you type, and not the general ideas they express. The system doesn't think. So you have to plan for single and plural, more specific, broad or related l terms, nouns, adjectives, and verbs, etc.
  
  Example topic:  Impact of overfishing due to recreational fishing on freshwater vegetation. 

Concept 1: Overfishing - fishing (broad term), fisherman (related term), angling (related term) or anglers (related term)

Concept 2: Vegetation - aquatic plants (more specific), hydrophytes (more specific), macrophytes (specific term), aquaculture (broad term)

Concept 3: Lake - freshwater (broad term), inland waters(broad term), river (related term)

Concept 4: Recreation - tourism (broad term), ecotourism (broad term), leisure (related term ), sport (specific term)

NOTES:

•  "Environmental Effects" is not included. The effect being examined here is related to that on vegetation, so this is the most important word to include.  Adding the the phrase "environmental effects" might narrow the search too much.  You would also need to consider the many different ways authors might express this concept  (e.g. "environmental impact" or "ecological impact" or "impact on biodiversity" or "human impact"). If your question did not ask about a specific impact, then it would be reasonable to consider searching with these phrases.
• To search for a phrase many databases require quotations marks around the words. Otherwise, the database assumes an AND between the words and will search for them separately. Keep in mind every database is different so you should check the HELP section to see how that database searches phrases. 
  Eg. "aquatic plants"
   
• Truncation and wildcards are used to find variations of words.
  
  Truncation will find any ending for the root of a word. The truncation symbol in most journal databases is the asterisk *
  
  E.g. overfish* will find overfished or overfishing
  
  Wildcards are used within a word, to represent any letter.
  
  E.g. colo*r will find colour or color
   
• Combining Keywords
  
  When you use AND, you are specifying that both terms must be found in every item found.
  
  E.g. overfish* and vegetation* and recreation*
  
  When you use OR, you are specifying that items have either of the terms, but not necessarily both. Use an OR between synonymous or similar terms for a concept.
  
  E.g. vegetation* or plant* or macrophyte* or hydrophyte*
  
  Some databases provide search forms (usually in an Advanced search screen) so that you don't need to type in AND or OR. For those that don't, you need to place parentheses around those terms that have OR between them.
  
  E.g. (overfish* or fishing or fisher* or angling or angler*) and (vegetation* or "aquatic plant*" or macrophyte* or aquaculture*) and (recreation* or sport*)
  
  Below is what this search would look like in the Web of Science (highlighting where the ANDs and ORs should be placed).
  
   

Adjust your search strategy

Remember, searching for articles is an iterative process.  You may need to try different strategies to get the best results.  To help you do this, sometimes you can use the results you already have to discover terms you didn't think of initially. For example, one of the articles found with the search above is entitled," "Recreational boating degrades vegetation important for fish recruitment".  The term 'boating' is not one that was used in the initial search, but could be very useful in finding other related articles.  Try this search: 

recreation* or sport*

and

boat* or yacht*

and

vegetation* or "aquatic plant*" or macrophyte* or aquaculture*

Narrowing your results

Check the database for ways to limit your results to:

• Language – e.g. English
• Publication Type e.g. Empirical study, case study
• Scholarly articles/Peer Reviewed articles
• Date range

Check the record where your search terms matched. The best matches for topics are in fields like Subject or Title. Search specific fields if there is an Advanced or Expert search option.

Use Subject Headings or Descriptors if available to increase the relevancy of your results

Add another concept to your search using the Boolean operator “AND”

Getting the Full-Text

Sometimes the database you are searching also provides full text journals. In this case you may see below or next to the citation a 'Full-Text' link to the article.

If you do not see a Full-Text link, this does not always mean we don't have the article. It may be available from another source. In this case, to determine if Trent has the full-text of an article, click on the GetIt!Trent icon. This icon can be seen near each citation in a database.

Note: If you see the notation below a citation, “ Trent Library does not have this journal”, please ignore as it is not always accurate. GetIt! Trent will be able to better tell you if we have the journal.

If an article is not available, you can request an InterLibrary Loan (ILL) through RACER. Keep in mind articles via ILL are not available overnight, so this service is only useful if you have enough time to receive the article before your project is due. We recommend that you allow 7-10 days. For more information and to register for an account please go to the RACER web site.

Too few articles:

• Check for typos and spelling. Consider using both American and British spellings (eg. behaviour or behavior).
• Remove long phrases.
• Make sure you're using a database that is likely to include information on your topic.
• Try using other synonyms and alternate words joined by the Boolean Operator 'OR' (e.g. aboriginal or indigenous or First Nations).
• Check your Boolean logic.  Are you using 'AND' when you should be using 'OR'?
• If you have found at least one good article, look at the references of this article to find other related articles OR use the 'Find citing' or 'Find related' buttons when available in the databases.

Too many articles:

• Add another concept to your searching using the Boolean operator 'AND'.
• Add Limits (e.g. Peer Reviewed, Date of Publication, Language, Publication Type, etc.).
• Check your Boolean logic. Are you using 'OR' when you should be using 'AND'?
• When Keyword searching, try searching just in the Title field. This is not recommended for all searches, as you will eliminate relevant articles that don't have those keywords in the title, but it will likely find a few articles to get you started.
• If you're searching in a database that covers all subjects (e.g. Academic Search Elite, Web of Knowledge), look for a database that is subject specific.

Interlibrary loan is a system that allows you to request material from other libraries to be sent to Trent for you to borrow. Normally, there are no costs to use the ILL service. Plan ahead because it can take a few days or even weeks for material to be sent, depending upon availability.

Visit the Interlibrary Loan page for more information.