This step of the research process involves developing a search strategy. Searching and finding materials in libraries can be an intricate process. You may use different search strategies depending on what you need to find. A search strategy can include:
The video created by Yavapai College Libraries gives you an idea of what a library database is and why they're essential for research.
To think of your topic critically, you should begin by familiarizing yourself with it through background information and identifying key dates, concepts, and terminology that best represents your topic. Then test your selected terms across various databases and modify your searches as you uncover new information.
The video below will showcase resources for background information within the HPU Libraries.
The library offers a number of databases to help you find academic information. Many databases will help you find academic/scholarly articles, plus books, newspaper or magazine articles, images, and even videos.
Search our catalog through HPU Discovery. If you want to search only books, select the book tab above the search box. This will limit your search to books. If you are looking specifically for print books, you can then limit your results to just print books using the filters on the left-hand side of your results page. If you are looking for e-books, you can then limit your results to just eBook using the filters on the left-hand side of your results page.
You can also search through our HPU Discovery if you want to search only articles, select the articles tab above the search box. This will limit your search to articles and book chapters. You may want to use some of the filter options on the left-hand side of your results screen, such as limiting to only articles. You also may want to limit to just peer-reviewed articles.
Have in mind that HPU Discovery does not search all of our article databases. To access other databases, you can visit our A-Z database list. For those taking WRI courses we have listed the most popular databases recommended by professors and librarians, some of which are covered in the video below.
A keyword is a term used to perform a search using natural language. A keyword search will search your terms in the entire record of that item (the title, author, abstract, general description, and subjects). Keyword searches generally return more results.
All databases use the keyword search as the default; if you want to search by subject terms, your need to indicate so in the search field.
A subject term or subject heading is a term selected by indexers or catalogers as a predetermined item description. In other words, a person has looked at the book or article and assigned specific subjects that represent the main topics in that book or article. Therefore a subject term search will only retrieve books or articles assigned to that particular term (similar to what hashtags do). You can find subjects relevant to your topic by looking at the record of the item. A subject search is more relevant and specific than a keyword search.
Build complex searches by choosing the Advanced Search option within databases and use Boolean operators. Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are commands that connect two or more terms together.
Use truncation, wildcards, and quotations to make your search more comprehensive.
All databases will allow you to limit your search in various ways, filtering out the sources you don't want. Some of the most common limiters/filters are:
If you aren't given limiting options on the basic search screen, try clicking on the "Advanced Search" link. If you start your search without adding limiters, some databases, like EBSCOhost and ProQuest, allow you to apply limiters from your results screen. The more limiters you use, the fewer results you will get.
Additionally, all databases have sets of searchable fields that enable you to search within a specific section of a record. Most common search field include:
Some databases have Field Codes such as the EBSCO databases to search within a specific section of the record. The field code is represented in a two-character abbreviation when inserted into the query. When using field searchers, be sure that the term you're using is on the list of acceptable terms for that field. Some fields use like Subject Terms are pre-populated lists of terms from a thesaurus.
