First Year Seminar (FYS)

Learning how to search effectively can save you time and help you find better sources for your assignments. Below are some essential tools and techniques to use when searching in library databases, catalogs, or even Google Scholar. 

1. Keywords

Keywords are the main ideas or concepts of your topic. Start by identifying 2-4 important words or short phrases before you start your search.

Example:

If your topic is "The impact of social media on teen mental health," your keywords might be: 

• social media
• teens
• mental health

Try mixing and matching these to explore different results!

2. Boolean Operators

Boolean operators are words you use between your keywords to narrow or broaden your search. The most common are: 

• AND - narrows your search by combining terms
  • social media AND mental health (finds results that include both)
• OR - broadens your search to include synonyms or related terms
  • teenagers OR adolescents (finds either term)
• NOT - excludes a term from your search
  • social media NOT Facebook (finds results about social media, but removes any results about Facebook)

Tip: Use capital letters (AND, OR, NOT) for best results in most databases.

3. Exact Phrases

Use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase, especially when the words belong together.

Example: 

• "mental health" - finds results where those words appear together in that order
• "climate change" - avoids results with just "climate" or "change" by themselves

This helps narrow down your search to more relevant results. 

4. Subject Headings

Subject headings (also sometimes called a controlled vocabulary) are specific terms that libraries and databases use to organize content by topic. Kind of like a hashtag on social media. Clicking on a subject heading in a record can lead you to other articles on the same subject.

Example:

You might search for "teens" but find the subject heading listed as Adolescents or Youth - Psychology.

Tips: 

• Look for subject headings listed in database results (often under "Subjects")
• Use them to refine or expand your search

💡Quick Tips:

• Start broad with keywords, then narrow using AND and exact phrases
• Try OR to include synonyms or related terms
• Use subject headings when you find a really good article and want to discover more like it!