A variety of special tools are used in searching databases to get more relevant results. These tools include:
Phrase Searching with Quotation Marks
Use quotation marks to search with multi-word phrases.
Video Credit: NC State University Libraries
Boolean Operators (OR, AND, NOT)
The following video provides an overview of what Boolean operators are and how they are used in a search.
Video Credit: Deakin Library
Nesting Using Parentheses
Parentheses are most often used in a search to group synonyms together and provide the database an "order of operations" for the search. Watch the video below to see how this works and why nesting is a useful search technique.
Video Credit: Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Library
