[inaudible].
If you have ever used a search engine,
you're probably familiar with
something called "phrase searching,"
where you type a phrase as long as you
want into the search box and get lots of
results.
But library databases, which contain
articles and books, and library catalogs,
which give you directions
to library resources, don't
understand phrase searching
[inaudible].
We will be using Academic Search Premier,
one of our large, interdisciplinary
databases, as an example to talk about
searching.
You can get there from the
research databases button
on the library's homepage.
Instead of phrase searching,
Academic Search Premier and other library
databases and catalogs use something
called "Boolean searching,"
which is based on principles set
forth by mathematician George Boole.
Boolean searching relies on
keywords instead of phrases.
Keywords can actually be one to three
words, but they are short and we combine
them using something
called search operators.
Boolean searching uses
three search operator words:
"and," "or," and "not."
When you use "and" to
connect your search keywords,
the database or catalog will only
provide results that include both of your
keywords. "And" allows you to
target the overlap of two topics,
helping you narrow down your
search to the most relevant results.
When you use "or" to connect
your search keywords,
the database or catalog will provide
results that include either of your
keywords by themselves, as well as results
that include both of them together. "Or"
lets you broaden your search by
including synonyms or related concepts.
When you use "not" to connect
your search keywords,
the database or catalog will provide
all the results that include the first
keyword, except for those that also
include the second keyword.  "Not" is useful for
excluding results that
you don't want. Even
if you choose great keywords and
use Boolean operators effectively,
you probably won't find all the
information you need with one search.
In the library world, we talk about
searching as strategic exploration.
It's an iterative or repetitive process.
Every time you search you learn
something new that makes your next search
better.
[inaudible].
That's where something called
subject headings come in.
Subject headings are words or phrases
that describe the major topics covered in
an article, book, or other
sorts of information.
When you search by keyword,
you might get results that only
mention your topic in passing.
When you search by subject heading,
you only get results
that go into more depth,
but there's a catch.
You can't use just any word or
phrase as the subject heading.
You have to use the authorized term
from a list that the catalog or database
vendor provides.
Different catalogs or databases may use
different subject headings for the same
topic. For example,
our library catalog uses the same list
of subject headings used by the Library
of Congress.
If I want to search for articles about
how the law applies to airplanes,
the current Library of Congress,
subject heading is "Aeronautics
-- Law and legislation,"
but Academic Search Premier uses the
subject term "Aviation Law" instead.
The easiest way to find the right subject
heading is to start with a keyword
search for your topic the way we
did at the beginning of this video.
Find an article you like in the
list of results and look at its
subject headings. Now that
you know what term to use,
try a new search by subject and
see how much your results improve.
[inaudible] [inaudible].
