Search Strategies Guide for Successful Searching of the Library Catalogue and Business Articles Databases

Library Catalogue | Course Reserves | Business Article Databases

Successful searching for relevant sources of information using library databases may involve a number of search techniques. These are powerful finding tools and it is useful to be familiar with the following search strategies.

Note: while the following search strategies are typically supported in most library eResources, it is advisable to always check the “Help” for individual eResources to read about searches supported.

Using the Library Catalogue – Quick Search Tips

The new search interface gives you easy access to the over two million books, journals, electronic resources , audio/video, maps and other materials at the five main York University Libraries. It includes our eResources, everything in the classic catalogue, and YorkSpace, York Digital Journals, all in one search.

Author

If you are looking for a particular author and only using the first initial, place a wildcard * after the initial. You can search in natural name order or with surname first.

Title

There is no EXACT Title search feature. You must put an exact title in quotation marks after selecting a Title Keyword search from the dropdown menu:

Search Operators – Combining Search Terms

Search operators may be entered in upper or lower case letters.

Use AND/and to narrow a search and where you want all terms to appear in your search results:

Note the default operator is AND/and. This means that if there is no Boolean operator between the two terms, the AND/and operator is used automatically like Google.

Use the OR/or operator to broaden your search. This operator is often used to combine synonyms or like terms:

If you want to combine the operators AND/and and OR/or in your search using Advanced Search offers an easy way to build your search:

nested

Truncation

If you want to find alternate spellings or singular/plural variants of words there is no need to use the truncation symbol any more as these variants will automatically be found, e.g., a search for consumer behaviour will find consumer behavior also. A search for leader finds leaders.

leader

Use the * truncation symbol * where you need to find variant forms of a word including singulars/plurals and variant spellings and other variant forms e.g. nouns, verbs etc.:

leader2

Course Reserves

Select Course Reserves from the drop-down menu and enter either the course code or the instructor’s last name, e.g., spraakman, fine 3100, mgmt 1030:

reserve

Keyword versus Subject Heading Searches

When you need to find resources on a topic we advise you to start out with a keyword search. You might need materials on corporate social responsibility for example:

When you search for books you see that the assigned subject headings is:

Use the subject links provided to explore relevant materials available.

Limiting your search via Refine

After you carry out a search, you can limit by Location, Format, Subject, Author, Call Number, or Language. These options are available on the left navbar.

The default in the results display is relevance. This can be changed to sort by date order if this is preferred.

Articles Databases for Business

The Savvy Searcher’s Arsenal: Tips for More Effective Results

All the main articles databases for business, e.g., Proquest Business, Business Source Premier and Factiva offer basic and advanced search functionality.

A successful researcher knows how to construct good searches and that means being familiar with some search strategy fundamentals. To save you time and give you a more rewarding and successful experience when searching these databases here are a couple of tips for savvy searching.

Tip Number One : Search for variant spellings or variant forms (singulars, plurals, noun, verb, adjectives etc.) of key search concepts to enhance the relevance of your results. Add the truncation and the wildcard symbols to your search tools arsenal!

The symbols used to enable truncation or wildcard searching in a database may vary. The symbols * (truncation) and ? (wildcard) are common but not universal. Check the help in the database for specific instructions.

Truncation Symbol – usually represented by a *

Wildcard Symbol – usually represented by a question mark ?

Use

where you want to find both singular and plural forms of a word
where you want to find variant forms of a concept e.g. noun, verbs, adverbs, adjectives etc.

Use

where there are unknown characters
where there are variant spellings

ExamplesEnter the root or word stem and replace the ending with *

manag*

Finds management, manager, manages, managing etc.

technol*

Finds technology, technological, technologies etc.

hospital*

Finds hospitals, hospitalization,hospitality, etc.

Examples

Enter your search terms and replace each unknown character with a ?

All known instances of the word are found with ? replaced replaced by a letter.

ne?t

Finds next, nest, neat

wom?n

Finds women and woman

Tip Number Two: Avoid natural language when you are doing a search. Instead combine search concepts using the connectors AND or OR.

AND

Use

where you want to combine different or distinctive concepts in your search
where you want all the terms you are combining to appear in your results
where your objective is to narrow your search

Use

where you want to introduce synonyms or like terms when searching
where you want each search result to contain at least one of the terms bu not necessarily both.
where your objective is to broaden your search

Examples

India AND economy

leadership AND ethics

expatriates AND multinationals AND training

Examples

cars OR automobiles

web OR internet

salaries OR compensation OR remuneration

Complex Boolean Searches: Using ANDs and ORs in Your Search

The reality of doing research is that very often your research question cannot be distilled into one word. Research topics are often multi-faceted and in order to do research well and get relevant results you typically have to break a research question into several core concepts and you have to think about introducing synonyms for key concepts being used. For this reason the business articles databases offer you the ability to build complex Boolean searches.

Research Topic: You need to find business articles which report on fraudulent activity or scandals in auditing or financial reporting practices.

Building an Effective Search when Working with One Search Box

Structure your search as shown below when using Factiva or basic search mode in Proquest Business or Business Source Premier.

It is essential to use the brackets or parentheses exactly as indicated in this example.

Building an Effective Search when Working with Multiple Keyword Search Boxes

Typically business article databases offer you an advanced search mode. Ironic as this may sound this often makes it easier for you to build a complex Boolean search as this example illustrates:

The search results for both of these searches will find the words audit, audits, auditing, auditor, auditiors or the phrase financial reporting combined with the words fraud, frauds, fraudulent or the words scandal, scandals, scandalous.

Tip Number Three: Some databases such as Proquest Business or Business Source Premier provide useful links to topics that may be relevant to your search. These are displayed when search results load and you can click on them to find the articles on these topics.

Compiled by Sophie Bury, Business Librarian, Bronfman Business Library. Updated January 2012