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Search & Research

Mastering the library databases

Research is a Process

It’s unlikely you’ll do the best search on your first try (that’s okay!). Learn from what doesn’t work and adjust, filter, and most importantly: keep trying.

We've discussed many strategies for searching in this guide. These strategies can be used when you're crafting your first search, but they can also be used to refine a search that isn't quite working. Whenever you do a search, glance over your results to see how relevant they are, and note how many results you have. Let's work through a few scenarios.

Results Aren't Relevant

When you do your first search, take a few minutes to look at the titles and abstracts of your results. Are these resources on your topic? If not, you'll want to adjust the keywords you're using. When this happens to me, I like to take a closer look at the results to determine how my keywords are appearing.

  • It's possible that there's one keyword that is showing up in results that aren't relevant. Try the search again, but remove that keyword.
  • Are there keywords you brainstormed but haven't used? Try adding them with OR clauses or switching them out for keywords you used in the first search.
  • Try different combinations of keywords.

Too Few Results

If your search returns only a few results, there are a few things you can try.

  • Add additional keywords with OR clauses to your search.
  • Remove a main idea from your search. This doesn't have to be permanent but can provide some clarity about the number of results available to you.
  • Try a different collection, database or resource.

Too Many Results

When you have a healthy or overwhelming number of results, there are a few things to try:

  • Add another main idea with AND.
  • Use limiters to limit results based on source type, publication date, peer review or full-text status.

Limiting results in this way can also increase their relevance.

Multi-Search

The multi-search tool is the search bar on the main page of the library's website. It searches the library catalog and some, but not all, of the library's databases. The multi-search can be a great place to begin your research but is far from our only resource.

A-Z Database List

The A-Z Database list is a complete list of all Shapiro's collections. Limit this list to relevant databases using the subject and database type drop down lists.

Ask for Help

Research isn't something you have to do all by yourself. Ask for help before you get frustrated. Take a moment now to find the contact information for the reference team in the top right corner of this page. It's okay to check in with them at any point in your research process. Not sure where to start? Hit a stumbling block partway through? Both are great reasons to chat with a librarian.