InfoSkills for Social and Behavioral Sciences

Each library database has its own rules for how you should enter search terms, called search syntax. These rules help the database understand what you're looking for. For example, you might use quotation marks for exact phrases, an asterisk (*) to find word variations, or words like AND and OR to combine search terms.

You don’t need to remember all the details for every database, but it’s important to understand the basics so you can search effectively. The good news is that most library databases use similar rules. Once you learn how to search in one, it becomes much easier to use others.