From database to database search words are combined with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT). To get the best result it is still worthwhile to check the guidelines for each database:
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phones AND marketing AND-operator specifies the search. It searches for material containing all the search terms.
phone OR cell OR cellular OR-operator expands the search. It is enough that some search words are found in the result. OR-operator is practical when using synonyms.
marketing NOT telemarketing NOT-operator limits the search. It excludes some search words from results. Be careful with this operator - applying it can easily leave useful material outside the result list. |
Example topic: marketing of mobile phones. Search could be
(phone OR cell) AND marketing
You can add synonyms and related terms to get better results:
(phone OR cell OR cellular) AND (marketing OR selling OR trading)
When combining search terms, you can take advantage of search tools, for example:
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Sometimes it is useful to truncate a search word for taking into account different forms of the term. Symbols used for truncation vary, so check the symbols from the database you are using. The most usual wildcard characters are: *, ?, $ and #.
Examples:
process* > processor, processing, processed, process, processes and processors
*cattle* > beef cattle, cattle breeds, cattle raising
If you want to search a phrase (two or more words in a specific order), use quotation marks around the words. Without quotation marks, many databases are looking for search words individually and the results will contain a lot of irrelevant material. For details, check the guidelines for each database.
Examples:
"Social media"
"human resources management"
It is often useful to limit your search to get more precise results. How to limit your searches will vary from database to database. The most common "limit" commands are "by date," "by language," or "by publication type." In most of the databases, you can also limit your searches to author, title or keywords.
Critically used AI applications can help you in your information retrieval, for example, during the ideation phase of your thesis and the preparation of research questions. For the time being, however, these are not able to replace traditional information retrieval. There are a lot of AI applications and changes are fast. You can explore the offering e.g. through the following guides: