LibGuides: Psychology Graduate Workshop: Literature Reviews: Search Tips

Search Tips

You can find keywords in several ways:

1) Brainstorm words that are related to the words in your search; e.g.:

2) Look for words that databases use as controlled vocabulary (in PsycINFO, find this using the Thesaurus tool):

Use "quotation marks" to search for a phrase
Example: "public health"
Truncation
Save time by searching multiple forms of a word simultaneously.
colleg* finds college, colleges, collegium, collegial
col*r finds color, colour, colander
Boolean Operators
Use boolean operators to get better search results.
AND to join dissimilar terms, e.g. cloning AND ethics
OR to join similar terms, e.g. ethic* OR moral*
NOT to exclude some results, e.g. cloning NOT reproductive
Limiters
Use limiters to refine and narrow your search.

Finding a Known Item

You found a reference in a bibliography and you want to locate the original item. Here are some suggestions.

Type the article or book title in Google Scholar.
Type the article or book title in UC Library Search..
Type the journal title in UC Library Search box located on the Library's home page.
Select a database in the appropriate subject area, type the article title in the search box, then select Title for your search field.

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Psychology Graduate Workshop: Literature Reviews: Search Tips