There are two basic approaches to getting good results from a search:

Pre-Search: This involves constructing a more complex search that will return more meaningful results. This may involve boolean operators, searching only within a specific field, or using phrase or truncation methods.

Post-Search: This starts with a basic keyword search that returns a wide array of titles, then narrowing the results. There are many ways to narrow results, but most databases will allow you to set filters by subjects, dates, and whether the articles are available in full-text.

Key words are words or phrases that explain your topic. All searches start with at least one key word, whether it's a simple or complex search.

A truncation search allows you to search for several similar terms using one word. For example if you wanted to search for information on industry in China, using the search term

industr*

will return any results that include the words "industry", "industries", or "industrial".

Many databases use the asterisk * symbol for a truncation search; some may use a question mark ?. Check the help section of the database you're using to be sure,

You may already be using this method when you're searching in Google, but by placing quotation marks around a specific phrase, you can limit your results to items that use that exact phrase.

If you search forthe exact phrase "pulse generator", the following title will be included in your results,

"Design of a Tunable All-Digital UWB Pulse Generator CMOS Chip for Wireless Endoscope,"

but not the title

"Helix antennas for generators of short high-voltage pulses".

When using Google, it is important to remember what exactly Google is and what it is meant to do. It is not a database. It does not contain any actual content. It is a search engine. What Google does is to crawl websites looking for the keywords that you have entered into their search box to retrieve a pool of potential sources. This distinction between a database and a search engine is important to remember when it comes time to cite your source. You cite the source that you have used, not the search engine you have used. By playing close attention to the keywords that you use, you can increase the odds that the results retrieved by Google will be relevant to your search.

Here are some tips for searching using Google as your search engine:

• Add site:edu to your search to limit your search to websites in the edu domain, which represents institutions of higher education. You are more likely to retrieve a scholarly source by limiting your search to websites within the educational domain.
  • Wikipedia's listing of domain ending
• Add words like archive or exhibit to your search to discover primary sources.
• Use truncators. For example, the search term exhibit* will retrieve anything with the root of exhibit, which would include exhibit, exhibits, exhibition, exhibited, etc.
• Like many search engines, Google uses Boolean logic, which is mentioned in the box above. If you are not getting enough relevant results, try combining search terms with Boolean operators.