Research 101 -- Searching -- Creating a search query

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Introduction

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Creating a Search Query

Creating a Search Query Exercise

Searching the UW / UWCat Demo

Review Quiz

SEARCHING WORKSHEET

Searching
Creating a Search Query	<<previous pg. \| next pg.>>

Phrases | logical operators | truncation | wild cards | nesting

Most databases don't understand the natural language we speak and need help understanding what we're looking for. For this, they require a special set of conventions, including:

Quotation marks	Around exact phrases (e.g. "university of washington")
Logical or Boolean operators	Connecting words that narrow or broaden a search to include only what you need. Examples: OR, AND, NOT
Wildcards and truncation symbols (* # ? !)	For terms that have variant forms of spelling or different possible endings. Examples: child* for child, children, childhood, childish, etc.
Nesting	Placing terms in parentheses to indicate separate units. (Like an equation, (A or B) not C

Databases and search engines apply these rules differently, so check HELP files to find out how to use them.

Click on the links below for a demonstration of each strategy. Select either an animated movie or a static image.

Function	Search Strategy

Narrowing	AND	movie \| image
	NOT	movie \| image

Broadening	OR	movie \| image
	Wildcard	movie \| image

Combining	Nesting	movie \| image

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Note the formatting required for a query by the particular search engine you use