Skip to Main Content

Storehouse: Database Tutorials

Our Database Tutorials Page

If you create a box in LibGuides that describes how to use a database and you think it might be useful for other guides, you can place a copy of it here in the Storehouse so others can find it. 

 

Boolean Operators

Databases require a different kind of search technique.
Instead of entering a long string of text, you connect your search terms using Boolean Operators: AND, OR and NOT. The diagram below shows the effect of using each of the Boolean Operators. The shaded area indicates the volume of items that will be retrieved in each case.
 
 Venn diagram. And = only results that meet both criteria. Or = results that meet either criteria. Not = don't show results that have this criteria
Truncation: use * to find all word endings. For example environment* will find environments, environmental, environmental impacts
 

How to Do Advanced Google Searching

GO BEYOND A BASIC GOOGLE SEARCH!

 

To retrieve particular types of sites. Add this to the end of your search:

site:.org       Finds (mostly) non-profit websites

site:.gov      Finds government websites

site:.edu      Finds college & university websites

 

Example:

electric car environmental impact site:.org       

cybersecurity for small businesses site:.gov      

preventing childhood obesity site:.edu     

 

Give it a try! Visit Google. 

EBSCOhost Advanced Searching Tutorial

Using Medline

Using the CINAHL/MeSH Headings Feature in EBSCOhost

Searching Statista

Database Tips

Connect the search terms chosen previously to formulate search strings. For this purpose, researchers use Boolean Operators: AND, OR and NOT. The best way to visualize the function of each connector is to look at a Venn diagram. The colored area indicates the number of items with the terms that will be retrieved in each case.
 
 

 

visual representation of advanced search options which include truncation and spelling variations

Google Scholar Set Up

This video (1 min.) shows you how to set up Google Scholar so you can get articles for free through the Oregon Tech Library.

Note: If you find an article in Google Scholar and it doesn't link you back to the OT Library, you can submit a request to get the article from another library for free.  

Searching Business Source Complete

Using PubMed Search Builder

How DOIs Work

A DOI, or Digital Object Identifier, is a unique identifier assigned to a specific article or document. It consists of numbers, letters, and symbols. For example:

10.3390/en15217997

DOIs can be written as URLs as well:

https://doi.org/10.3390/en15217997

Because the DOI is unique to the item it's assigned to, it can be used to look up and access articles. Some citation styles require the inclusion of DOIs when one is available for an item. You can also use a DOI to look up an article and see if full text is available for free on the internet from the DOI website.

Using CQ Researcher