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      • Chapter 5: Finding Help with Your Research Paper
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This step will most likely provide you with the bulk of your current research material. The MSOE Library offers a number of databases of bibliographic material, full text periodicals, and abstracts of information covering a wide range of topics.

Conducting an Advanced Search

An advanced search is a valuable tool that allows you to take the search phrases that you identified in Step 1 of this lesson and control the vocabulary. The controlled vocabulary allows you to conduct specified searches in the databases listed in this step and to use for the uncontrolled lists in search engines that you will find later.

Advanced searches make use of Boolean operators and other special characters to help you specify your search. When you are visiting the various database sites and search engines, here are some specific ways to conduct an advanced search query:

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators tell the concept-based search mechanism in databases and search engines to turn off, allowing you to search for documents that contain exactly the words you are looking for. Boolean operators include AND, OR, AND NOT, and parentheses. These operators must appear in ALL CAPS, with a space on each side in order to work.

 

• AND
  Use this command when the documents you want to retrieve must contain all of the specified words.

  For example, to find documents that contain the words gone, wind, and movie, enter:

  gone AND wind AND movie

   

• OR
  Use this command when the documents you want to retrieve must contain at least one of the specified words.

  For example, to find documents that contain the word cat or the word kitten, enter:

  cat OR kitten

   

• AND NOT
  Use this command when the documents you want to retrieve cannot contain a specified word.

  For example, to find documents that contain the word fishing but not the word ice, enter:

  fish AND NOT ice

   

• ( )
  Parentheses are used to group portions of Boolean queries together for more complicated queries.

  For example, to retrieve documents that contain the word fruit and either the word banana or the word apple, enter:

  fruit AND (banana OR apple)

Special Characters

• Use quotation marks around words that are part of a phrase and that you would like to search for collectively.

  For example, "great barrier reef" is a phrase to search for collectively.

   

• Specify words that must appear in the results. Attach a + (plus) in front of words that must appear in the result documents.

  For example, apple +pie will retrieve all documents that contain the word pie but not necessarily apple. A search for +apple +pie will retrieve only those documents that contain the word apple where pie appears as well.

  Note: Do not leave any space between the sign and the designated word.

   

• Specify words that should not appear in the results. Attach a - (minus) in front of words that must not appear in result documents.

  For example, tape -player will retrieve only those documents that contain the word tape without the word player. This is especially useful when you are searching for a phrase that contains a word common to many other phrases.

  Note: Do not leave any space between the sign and the designated word.

   

• If you are interested in finding various word forms, you can use a keyword prefix. This is done by placing an * (asterisk) after the prefix so that all words matching the prefix are selected.

  For example, ham* will match hamburger, Hamlet, and hamster.

  Note: Pay close attention to how each database or search engine conducts advanced searches. Most of these resources will have a "Help" option nearby when you’re entering your search words that will specify the useful Boolean operators and special characters.

Databases

Tip: When conducting your research in the databases, pay close attention to the subject terms that are often listed in conjunction with your search. These are more related words and phrases that you can add to those found in Step 1 to use for more research.

Gateways (These sites are not actual periodicals themselves. They are databases that provide you with even more periodicals than are individually listed below.)	EBSCOhost FirstSearch Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe MAS FullTEXT Elite MasterFILE FullTEXT 1500 UMI’s ProQuest Direct Databases Wiscat
For general and reference information,	Consult FirstSearch for: Article1st Contents1st FactSearch NetFrist WorldCat
For bibliographic information,	Consult: BiographyInd (FirstSearch)
For dissertation abstracts, (Dissertations and theses provide you with information that may not be published elsewhere and may contain cutting-edge research.)	Consult: Diss (FirstSearch)
For conference papers and proceedings, (Conference papers and proceedings also provide you with new innovations or concepts that have been developed or discovered for presentation.)	Consult: PapersFirst (FirstSearch) Proceedings (FirstSearch)
For book reviews,	Consult: Books in Print BookRevDigst
For bibliographic information,	Consult: Books in Print
For information on:	Consult:
Agriculture/Animals	AGRICOLA (FirstSearch)
Biology	EBSCO Animals BioDigest (FirstSearch) BioAgrIndex (FirstSearch)
Business/Management	ABI/Inform Bus_Industry (FirstSearch) BusinessOrgs (FirstSearch) Business Source Elite BusManPrac (FirstSearch) ConsumerIndx (FirstSearch) Corporate America Disclosure (FirstSearch) EconLit (FirstSearch) IAC InfroTrac Standard & Poor’s CD Advantage Worldscope (FirstSearch)
Colleges/Universities	World College Information Resources
Computers/Computing	Computing Database MicrocompAbs (FirstSearch)
Education	EducationAbs (FirstSearch)
Engineering/Applied Technologies	Applied Science and Technology
Environment	Environment (FirstSearch)
Geography/Geology	GEOBASE (FirstSearch) GeoRef (FirstSearch) WorldAlmanac (FirstSearch)
Government (of the United States)	GPO (FirstSearch) PAISIntl (FirstSearch)
Health/Nutrition	AIDS_Cancer (FirstSearch) Biomedical Database Cinahl Nursing Database HealthRefCtr (FirstSearch) Health Source Plus MDXHealth (FirstSearch) Medline Nursing Collection Database
Legal	IndxLegalPer (FirstSearch)
Medicine/Medical Technology	Biomedical Database Cinahl Nursing Database Health Source Plus MDXHealth (FirstSearch) Medline
Psychology	PsycFIRST (FirstSearch)
Science/Technology	Applied Sciences and Technology BasicBIOSIS (FirstSearch)
Social Sciences/Humanities	Academic Search FullTEXT Elite AHSearch (FirstSearch) ContmpWomenIss (FirstSearch) SocioAbs (FirstSearch)
Telecommunications	Telecommunications Database
Toxicology	TOXNET

Note: The above databases are constantly updated and new ones are often added. For a complete list of the databases, consult the MSOE Library home page.

Go to MSOE Library Databases.

For even more information on database searching, check out The Four Steps of Expert Database Searching by Gary Shimek.