Searching Tips

Introduction to Databases

The database searching techniques discussed here work in library databases and on the Web. Library databases and indexes can lead you to books, or to articles from periodicals, magazines, and journals. The databases themselves are not always the full-text of the articles but just represent the "real stuff." Databases are made up of records which are formatted to be searchable. Records consist of fields such as author, title, and subject.

Keywords and Subject Headings

Keywords appear somewhere in a record -- the author field, the title field, the subject field -- or other searchable fields that make up the record. In many databases, descriptor terms or subject headings are assigned by human beings. Subject headings can often help you find records on a topic with greater precision than the use of keywords alone. Start with keyword searches, then examine the records retrieved for useful subject headings or other descriptors to use in a more precise follow-up search.

Combining Keywords

When you search with a keyword, the computer system matches it exactly against the indexed records. Search results are improved if you use the most specific words as your keywords e.g. voice recognition rather than simply technology. Keywords can be combined with Boolean operators: AND, OR, and NOT (sometimes AND NOT).


Roberta Tipton and Ka-Neng Au, 19 Dec 2000