Search Design - UMA Library Portal
Find Shelter from the Storm
With its sea of results a search in Google may cause information overload. Fortunately as a student you have access to a number of scholarly databases that are browsable by subject. Remember to select your campus from the list of databases.
Several campuses also have access to an all-in-one search tool that you can access from your individual library’s homepage or from the dropdown list on the Off-Campus Library Services home page.
As the screenshot below illustrates, you may be prompted to enter your maine.edu username and password. The same information that you use to login to MaineStreet and Blackboard.
Begin Your Search
Start your research journey by identifying your information need. If you’re conducting research for an
assignment, review the prompt and the types of sources that you are being asked to use. If you don’t have a prompt to guide your research, consider formulating a thesis statement or research question. If you start to feel overwhelmed, review the statement or question to help get you on track again.
Many librarians recommend beginning the research process by reviewing background information on a topic. Britannica Onlineand Credo Reference are two library databases that include access to millions of entries.
Students may also obtain background information from EBooks. You don’t need an iPad, Kindle, or other type of bookreader to access these sources. EBooks may be viewed right from your computer. Consider starting your research with Ebrary Academic Complete Ebooks Collection or EBSCO Ebook Collection.
When you are ready to move to more subject-specific databases, you may want to use research guides created by librarians. These guides will direct you to the most appropriate sources. You can connect to you campus’ research guides 24/7: University of Maine, University of Maine at Augusta, University of Maine Farmington, University of Maine Fort Kent, University of Maine Machias, University of Maine Presque Isle, University of Southern Maine.
Set Sail with Boolean Operators
Users can enter entire questions and whole sentences into search engines such as Google. Library databases searches are more effective when users enter several keywords at a time.
Another strategic search tool involves Boolean Operators, which are simple words that provide instructions to databases.
Entering AND in capital letters between two search terms tells a database to return results that include both terms. For example, entering tuna AND fishing returns results about the tuna fishing industry.
NOT tells a database to leave out a term. Tuna NOT fishing will return results about the species tuna.
Entering OR between results will broaden the search. Results will include information about tuna the species, fishing, and the tuna fishing industry.
You can use more than one Boolean Operator in a search. Consider parentheses to customize your search. For example (tuna OR trout) AND fishing will return results about fishing tuna, as well as fishing trout.
Quotations can also be added for a phrase or to keep words in an exact order. “Healing power of the ocean” will return results with the exact phrase, whereas removing the quotations will return results about the ocean as a power source or healing powers of the mind.
If quotations limit your search, you can also use NEAR so that words are relatively close to each other instead of being in an exact order. Here is an example of this method: healing NEAR ocean.
An asterisk * can replace one or more characters at the beginning, end, or middle of a word. *fish will return results for shellfish, monkfish, and more.
Each database will have its own rules. A Help section, button, or link in a database will provide more information. You can also contact a librarian for more information.
References
The images of the tuna and the can of tuna were modified for use in the figure above. The creators are referenced below and do not endorse the figure. The figure is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License: https://creativecommons.org/compatiblelicenses
alsis35 (now at ipernity). (2012) Tuna Booklet (8), c1946. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/bQm682 through a Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Takashi Hososhima. (2012). Panning of Tuna [jpg]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/be3PeD through a Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/