Psychology 171 (Yancey)

A. Boolean Operators

When searching in Databases, use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, and NOT) to tell the database what you're looking for).

OR is mORe (joins similar terms)  e.g. test OR inventory

AND is less (joins dissimilar terms) e.g. gender AND "beck depression inventory"

Sample Search Using both AND and OR

mood OR depression

AND

"body image" 

B. Quotation Marks

Use quotation marks to search for a phrase

• "sleep hygiene"
• "couch to 5K"
• "beck depression inventory"

C. Truncation

Use a symbol, the asterisk * is the most common, to look for variant endings of a word

• prevent* will search for prevent, prevents, prevention, etc.

D. Combine search strategies

Combine search strategies for more efficient searching

For example: ("couch to 5K" OR "step tracking") AND depression

• Who are the major figures associated with the topic? (e.g., Karl Marx, Albert Einstein, students, kittens)
• What is the description of the topic? What is happening?
• Where does the topic operate? (e.g., Eastern Europe, basal ganglia, California)
• When is the timeframe for this topic? This can often be combined with “where” (e.g., Jurassic Era, antebellum American South, 21st-century inner-city Chicago)
• Why is this significant to others in the field? Why is this happening?
• How can your topic be tested? How do you describe the relationship between your concepts?