InfoSkills for Economics and Management

Search rules

• Enter search terms in the Search Term box ❶.
  • The default is to search for ALL terms entered -- which is a Boolean AND search. For example, a search on youth violence is the same as a search on youth AND violence. This means that you don't have to use the AND operator within a row, but if you prefer to do so you can.
  • Use WCD's truncation and wildcard symbols to expand or focus searches. When truncating, make sure you set the asterisk in the correct place to avoid irrelevant results. Optionally, you can refresh your knowledge about wildcards and truncation by revisiting Module C, page 2.5).

    Symbols	Usage	Examples
    TRUNCATION *	Add the asterisk (*) to the end of a search term to retrieve variant endings. Search returns results with 0 or more characters in place of the truncation symbol. A minimum of three characters must precede the symbol.	connect* retrieves connect, connection, connectivity, etc. individual* retrieves individual, individuals, individualism, individuality
    WILDCARDS # and ?	The number sign (#) replaces one character in or at the end of a search term. A minimum of three characters must precede the symbol.	photograph# retrieves photograph, photographs (but not photographer) wom#n retrieves woman, women
    	The question mark (?) replaces 0 to 9 unknown characters in a search term.	lab?r retrieves labor, labour encyclop?dia retrieves encyclopedia, encyclopaedia

  • To search for an exact phrase, put quotation marks around your search terms: "youth violence".
  • For more controlled searching, use parentheses: prevent* ("youth violence" OR "juvenile delinquen*").

• Choose the field(s) you want to search in the Search Index box ➋. When conducting a general search, the keyword field is normally the best one to use. Other fields available from the pull-down menu include Title, Author, Abstract, Subject, and Source Title (=in many cases: journal title).
• Choose the appropriate operator from the operator box ➌ if you want to add more search terms to your search, for example, a particular author.
• If you need more search boxes for your search, click on Add row ➍.

Within Advanced Search, options to limit your search are available under 'Search Tools' at the bottom of the screen ➎. 

Limiters appear in the following order:

• Only return peer-reviewed articles;
• Open Access;
• Format (e.g., book, e-book, article, etc.);
• Language;
• Audience (juvenile or not juvenile)
• Publication year;
• Any content (e.g., fiction, non-fiction);
• Library holdings: Libraries Worldwide, Libraries in the Netherlands, Tilburg University Library.