CHEM 342 -Organic Chemistry - Martin Walker - 2024 Spring

Searching effectively centers around knowing:

• if the tool you're using is:
  • Mainly full-text  searchable or with a very limited number of fields, or
  • Fully field searchable
• What EXACTLY is covered by the tool you are using (content, format, and dates at a minimum)

Full-Text Searching or Very limited number of fields

• Tools such as Google, Google Books, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, ASC Journal Search and JSTOR fall into this category
• You are stuck in the position of guessing what words somebody else used to describe your interest. 
• Try lots of searches with lots of different synonyms and related terms.  
• Be wary of the limited fields that are searchable and make sure you understand their limitations (abstract searching for example)

Field Searching

• Fully formed databases of records (think library catalogs) that add full-text only after the indexing is done. 
• More powerful for a good searcher.
• Check what fields are available for searching
• Learn to read a record for details
• Become an expert SUBJECT searcher, don't rely on keywords only.

1. Try a title or keyword search
2. Some databases have a list of suggested subject words on the initial results page.  Look at them and copy the useful ones.  If there is no list, then look at a number of potentially useful records and copy down words and phrases from the “subject” or "descriptor" area of single records.  Some databases provide a thesaurus of terms which can lead to broader, related, or narrower terms you may not have thought of.
3. Go back to the search screen and search BY SUBJECT/DESCRIPTOR using the words you learned about as a result of your first search.
4. Be sure to connect search terms correctly using the following techniques:

• Boolean connectors
  • AND connects different concepts and narrows a search: Fish AND chips
  • OR, with parentheses, combines synonyms/related terms and broadens a search: Fish AND (chips OR fries)
• Use quotation marks for phrases: Fish AND (chips OR "french fries")
• Use the asterisk as a wildcard character to retrieve variations on a common stem: educat* retrieves educate, education, educating, educated, etc.  Very useful for capturing plurals