Spark: Central Valley Stories (Trook, Fall 2023)

Open the Google spreadsheet linked below. What community or group are you researching? Enter it i column A, and I'll recommend some databases.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TV-pm5TjFSYKaXwI_YBMFyXcLo_NXhsEA-OS9-bvBI8/edit?usp=sharing

If you want to review search strategies, this video covers three which you can apply in your database searches. (3:04).

AND, OR

Join together search terms in a logical manner.

AND - narrows searches, used to join dissimilar terms
OR - broadens searches, used to join similar terms

Examples:

#1
"honey farmers" AND california

#2
LGBTQ OR “trans community”

#3
farm*
AND
immigrant* OR "migrant worker"
AND
family

" "

To search for specific phrases, enclose them in quotation marks. The database will search for those words together in that order.

Examples:

“Central Valley”

“dairy famers”

“drug sellers”

“community impact”

TRUNCATION

Truncate a word in order to search for different forms of the same word. Many database use the asterisk * as the truncation symbol.

Example:

Truncate the word child* to search for child, childhood, children etc.

Add the truncation symbol to immigra* to search for immigration, immigrant, immigration, immigrants etc.