Using InfoTrac (Advanced)
Stop words
Include/Exclude Terms (Boolean)
Include/Exclude Terms (Relevancy)
Wildcard - Unlimited Character Replacement
Wildcard - Exact Character Replacement
Wildcard - Exact or Zero Character Replacement
Limiting to Peer-Reviewed Articles
Limiting to Full-Text Articles
Date Ranges
Phrase Searching
Proximity Searching
Choosing a Search Method
| SEARCH FEATURE | TECHNIQUE | EXAMPLE |
| Stop words | a, an, for, in, of, that, the, this | To find "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" search as "Hand Rocks Cradle" |
| Include/Exclude
Terms (basic or advanced search) |
and, or, not to include or
exclude terms One or more booleans in a phrase: system searches first for everything connected by NOT, followed by AND, then OR. "Nest" phrases using parenthesis: system searches everything in parenthesis first, then merges results with terms outside of parenthesis. |
SERBIA OR CROATIA AND BOSNIA
articles containing either both "Croatia" and "Bosnia" and/or "Serbia." An article about the Serbian/Bosnian conflict that didn’t mention Croatia would not be included. BOSNIA AND BALKANS NOT SERBIA articles about Bosnia and the Balkans in which Serbia is not mentioned. (BOSNIA OR CROATIA) AND SERBIA articles that contain either "Bosnia" or "Croatia" that also discuss "Serbia" |
| Include/Exclude
Terms (relevancy search) |
+ (plus) to include word or phrase – (minus) to exclude word or phrase |
doctors +pediatricians articles about doctors discussing pediatricians presidents –"United States" articles that discuss presidents of places/things other than the United States |
| Unlimited Character Wildcard | * (asterix) to match one or more characters (keyword searches must include at least two characters before the wildcard) |
DOG* finds
"dogs," "dogmatic," "dogfish," but not "dog" COLL*GE finds "college," "collage," and "collenge" |
| Exact Character Wildcard | ? (question mark) use one or more to replace exact number of characters (keyword searches must include at least two characters before the wildcard) |
PSYCH????Y finds "psychology," and "psychiatry" but not "psychotherapy" |
| Exact or Zero Character Wildcard | ! (exclamation point) use one or more to replace exact or zero number of characters (keyword searches must include at least two characters before the wildcard) |
COLO!R finds
"color" or "colour"
|
| Peer-Reviewed articles only | Basic Search: click "Limit the current search to refereed publications" Advanced Search: type: re ref |
ti (sink and swim) and re ref peer-reviewed articles containing words "sink" and "swim" (advanced search) |
| Full-text articles only | Basic Search: click "Limit the current search to articles with text" Advanced Search: type: ac fulltext |
ti (sink and swim) and ac
fulltext full-text articles containing words "sink" and "swim" (advanced search) |
| Date Ranges | Basic Search: fill in date under "Limit the current search by date" Advanced Search: must include index abbreviation followed by range term or mathematic symbol: before or < after or > to or – since or >= |
DA<January 1, 1999 DA before January 1, 1999 articles with publication dates earlier than January 1, 1999 (advanced search) |
| Exact Word or Phrase Searching | "..." (quotation
marks) Enclose word or phrase in quotation marks; use to ignore words that system might misinterpret as stop words or index abbreviations |
"sink or swim" articles with this exact phrase sink "or" swim articles containing "sink," "or," and "swim" anywhere (system will not treat "or" as stop word) "jn" articles containing "jn" (e.g., author’s first initials). System will not treat as index abbreviation for Journal Name |
| Proximity Searching | Use to specify that words must be
in specific order and within specific number of words from each other. Consists of letter
and number: W# words before and after must appear within # of words specified and exact order N# words must appear within # of words specified, any order |
sink w2 swim "sink" must appear within 2 or fewer words before "swim" sink n5 swim words must appear within 5 words of each other, any order |
| TYPE OF SEARCH | WHAT IS SEARCHED | BENEFITS/LIMITS |
| Basic (Default) | Keywords in title, citation,
abstract OR entire article (default) |
Easy to use: simple keyword or
phrase searching or any field in record Sorts by publication date Except for subject, can’t restrict words to specific field |
| Basic (Subject guide) | Subject terms in subject index fields | Browse list of topics for concepts |
| Advanced | Words or phrases in index fields you select. | To search specific index
fields, alone or in combination Sorts by publication date Difficult to use |
| Relevancy | Keywords in title, citation,
abstract OR entire article (default) Words in title, author, or subject fields in combination. |
Searches for words or phrases
AND variations on those words, alone and in combination. Sorts by relevancy (what system interprets as "best matches") Maximum 200 records retrieved. Results sometimes confusing. |
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