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Guide to Understanding Databases & Searching Logic

This document will help you:

• Understand how databases are structured.
• Provide information on how to select an appropriate database.
• Give you an overview of how logic is used to create a database search strategy.
• Advise you about specific search commands and methods for retrieving phrases in FirstSearch.

Electronic Databases: Why use a database?

• Searching for articles is easier when one can create a search by using logic to blend topic words together to search for specific items.
• In a database that indexes journals, a database search will pull together information about articles in hundreds of different journals at one time.
• Online systems can search hundreds of thousands of database records in less an a minute.
• In some cases a database will also include the full text of an article right on the computer, so there may be no need to go to shelves to locate the journal in the library.

To locate articles, you will need to use an index or a database, which will allow you to search for a topic and will provide you with references to specific articles on that topic.

The largest collection of electronic databases to periodical articles is the FirstSearch system, which offers over 70 different databases covering many subject areas. The best databases for education are ERIC or Education Abstracts (EducationAbst). The best databases for counseling topics are PsycInfo 1887 or WilsonSelectPlus. All databases employ a standard format; a database consists of thousands of individual database records. In a bibliographic database each individual database record identifies a unique document, book, video, article or other item. Each record has a variety of sections called fields.

Below is a sample ERIC database record citing a journal article. Note the field names along the left side of the record (Accession number, Author(s), Title, Source, and so on).

Fields are portions of the record that contain a specific piece of information such as a article title, date, journal name, note, language, abstract (summary), descriptor (subject heading), or author name. In the example above the labels along the left side of the record identify the specific fields in the record. Each record in a database shares this layout.

Database Selection

Currently there are thousands of different electronic databases covering subjects from aging to zoology. When doing research you must select the best database(s) to locate materials on your subject. In general when looking for articles begin with an electronic database that covers the journals and other materials in your subject area of interest. When selecting a database for a search consider the following when choosing a database:

• The most important question is: Does the database cover your subject or topical area?
• Does the database cover the time period in which you are interested?
• Are you seeking journal citations and abstracts or books?
• Professional or popular literature?
• Current events?
• Full text articles?

The Library Faculty can always assist you in selecting an appropriate database. On the table below several databases are shown along with their subject of coverage.

Searching Overview

When retrieving records from a database keywords are used to describe a topic. By using logic to tell the computer what to retrieve you can create a specific search strategy. Searching at its most basic can involve a search for a single word. For example you could search for the word "curriculum" in the text of any database records in a particular database. When you input the search word and execute the search:

1. The computer system will locate any record in the database that contains the word curriculum and
2. The system will then pull together a list of the titles of the retrieved records and show them to you.

However searching for a single word is inefficient when looking for information on complex topics. To improve a search you should use combinations of words to locate and retrieve more specific information.

Searching Logic

Search retrieval logic uses two main types of logic. (Logical operators are AND, OR, & NOT. (NOT is rarely used).

AND logic tells the system that "word 1 and word 2" must be present anyplace in the same database record. AND logic is used to build a strategy using combinations of topic words.

For example: preschool and programs

OR logic tells the system that "word 1 or word 2" must be present anyplace in the same record. OR is used to search terms that are alike in meaning,

&For example: women or woman or girl or female

STOP Words

Certain words are never indexed in a database and should not be used in search strategies. Un-indexed words are called stop words. These include the following:

An online list of stop words is available in the FirstSearch HELP text pages.

Your Topic and Search Strategy: Steps in Planning a Search

• First write out your topic in normal language, as shown below.
• Next circle or underline the individual topical concepts.
• Establish the search logic you will use employing AND or OR logic.

Let's assume that you are interested in a topic like this:

• Topic statement in normal language: Want to locate information about alternative teacher certification at the elementary education level.

One possible search strategy for the topic above would be:

alternative and "teacher certification" and "elementary education"

Quotation marks " " indicate a search by phrase.

When using AND logic a database record will only be retrieved if it contains all of the words the search strategy requires.

• Remember, each additional topical concept will narrow the search further.
• Too many concepts make the search too narrow.
• Too few concepts make the search too broad.

More on Databases

We all use databases everyday. The telephone book is actually a massive database sorted by last name and published for telephone subscribers. The FirstSearch system, available to students at WMU offers over 75 different databases.

• Databases will often index most of the major journals in a particular subject area. For example, in education subjects, ERIC indexes over 800 different journals in the education subject area each month.
• If you are not familiar with the choices, library personnel can always help you determine the best database for your topic.
• Some databases cover only a narrow type of material, for example the Newspaper Abstracts only indexes major newspapers in the United States.
• Some databases offer article citations and abstracts and the complete text of the articles it indexes.

A More Complex Search Strategy Example

Here we will employ both the AND logic and OR logic.

TOPIC: Want to find articles about the relationship between clothing and self esteem.

Recommended Strategy - Here we will use the OR logic to expand our search options.

Strategy: (clothing OR fashion) AND (self esteem OR self concept)

Below is the above search strategy that has been converted to a graphic layout. When viewing a strategy in this way it is easier to add any synonymous terms (terms that are alike in meaning).

Strategy Shown Graphically.......AND Logical relationships shown across columns in horizonal plane; OR logic is shown vertically.

• Adding additional terms using OR will expand the search result.
• Note in Concept A above that we added the word "fashion" as an alternate word to retrieve records that mention "fashion or clothing".
• In Concept B we have also included "self esteem" as well as "self concept".