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PSYC RA Toolkit: Smart Searching

This libguide is for PSYC RAs working on annotated bibliographies for their supervising faculty member.

Database Searching

If you're in a database like PubMed of PsycInfo, knowing about how to use operators can be useful. Increasingly, databases are adding AI layers that can interpret natural language questions and then generate a query with boolean operators for you. This query is used to find and retrieve info for you behind the scenes. However, it is useful to know basically what operators are good for and how to use them in your search.

Broaden Your Search

Use ORs and parentheses to combine synonyms or multiple topics

  • (NFL OR "National Football League")
  • (fans OR fandom OR "sport spectators")
  • (marketing OR "consumer behavior")

Truncate roots of important words* to find plurals and more

  • fan* (searches for fan, fans, fandom, etc...)
  • pharma* (searches for pharmacology, pharmaceutical, pharmaceuticals)

 *Truncation works differently in different databases. Check the help section of the database to learn what symbol to use and how to properly use it.

Narrow Your Search

Combine concepts with AND to find more relevant sources

  • NFL AND "Taylor Swift"
  • "Sports spectators" AND gender
  • "NFL" AND race

Use "Double Quotes" to find exact phrases

  • "sports spectators"
  • "gender bias"
  • "racial microaggression"

Exclude irrelevant concepts with NOT

  • opi* NOT opinion
  • "opioid use disorder" NOT review
    • (This may filter out review articles)