PHHA 425 - Health Research Guide

Use * to find all forms of a word

When you use the * (shift/8 on the keyboard) you are asking the database to return all the words that begin with the same letters.

Child* will find all results with child and all the words that start with these letters like children, children's, childhood, childrearing.

Use " " to search two words (or more) in that order

Quotation marks create a phrase to tell the database that you want to search the words in the order you entered them.

child protective services” will find only those words in that order and will NOT include articles on child and protective and services as separate words.

More tools

·            You can also tailor your search by using:

(  )           When using OR and AND in the same search, it’s necessary to group parts of the search together using database supplied search boxes or parentheses to specify the order of operations: Smoking AND (adolescents OR teenagers) and (tobacco OR cigarettes)

NOT        tells the database to eliminate a word that is not relevant to your topic: tobacco NOT smokeless will eliminate all the references to smokeless tobacco products.

Evaluating Information

Meriam Library | CSU, Chico