What are databases?
Research databases are organised collections of digital information or data such as journal articles, books, images and multimedia that can be searched to retrieve information. Databases can be general or subject oriented with bibliographic citations, abstracts, and/or full text.
These databases contain scholarly and peer-reviewed articles written by credible authors, such as journalists, researchers and experts in their field. Since databases provide powerful search tools for narrowing results, users are better able to quickly find the information they need.
Search Operators
Boolean Search Operators
Most databases use similar search syntax, giving you Smart Advanced search "Boolean" operators (AND / OR / NOT), "Phrase searching" (using "quote marks"), Grouped searches (using (parentheses)), Wildcards, etc.
Different Search engines offer different options, and may use different symbols for the same functions.
If your assignment had the question:
Outline the career of a musical group from the “British Invasion” in relation to music style, using seminal recordings and other historical information to illustrate your answer.
Instructional words
Outline the career of a musical group from the “British Invasion” in relation to music style, using seminal recordings and other historical information to illustrate your answer.
Keywords
Outline the career of a musical group from the “British Invasion” in relation to music style, using seminal recordings and other historical information to illustrate your answer.
|
Concept 1 |
AND |
Concept 2 |
AND |
Concept 3 |
|
"Musical group" |
"British Invasion" |
(Music AND Style) |
||
|
OR |
OR |
OR |
||
|
Musician |
1960-1970 |
Genre |
||
|
OR |
|
OR |
||
|
(Rock OR Pop) AND Group |
|
Composition |
Subject headings
Looking for (Rock OR Pop) AND Group returns "Rock music"
Performing a search for "British Invasion" returns Subject headings including "Rock music Great Britain History and criticism" AND "1961-1970"