Email: omalley@msoe.edu
Phone:414-277-7115
Office: Walter Schroeder Library L201
If you're an instructor looking to set up a library searching session or specialized class please let me know. I'd be happy to work with you!
Using syntax while searching a database means that you are searching in a standardized way while using symbols and other commands to tell the database what you're looking for. This leads to more effective and efficient searching. Syntax is determined by the company that owns the database so be sure to check if their syntax differs from others.
| Symbol | Meaning | Example |
| * | Wildcard - placed at the end of a word to catch different variations of that word. | Walk* = Walks, Walking, Walker, Walked |
| ? | Truncation - used in the middle of a term to capture various spellings | wom?n = woman, women, womyn |
| " " | Multi-phrase searching - used when your keyword is a phrase of more than 1 word. This tells the database that you want these two terms next to each other and not searched for separately |
"ear ache" "ear infection" "social pressure" |
|
NEAR/X or NEXT/X |
Proximity operator - finds words within a certain number range of each other. Unlike the quotation marks this operator allows for more expansive searching. Please note that proximity operators can differ depending on the database you're searching - make sure you've got it correct or it will throw your search off. |
Chronic NEAR/3 Pain the word chronic should be about 3 words or less away from the word pain |
|
TI, AB, AU, AUID, Etc. |
Field searching - this tells the database to search for a keyword in a specific location of the article. Check with the database for their specific abbreviations for locations. This example will search for the word "library" in the title of an item and the word "learning" in the abstract. |
TI(Library) AND AB(Learning) TI = Title AB = Abstract AU = Author |
| ( ) | Query or element grouping - this separates out different parts of a query and tells the database how to group similar elements together. Parenthesis can also be used in conjunction with Field tags to tell the database what keyword to look for in a specified area. | (cats OR kittens OR Felines) AND (dogs OR puppies OR Canines) |
If you have suggestions for how to make this page better, please contact Elizabeth Jerow, Library Director (jerow@msoe.edu).