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“How can I narrow
my search by using phrases?” |
When two or more search terms are entered, search results will
be significantly different depending on whether the database automatically
searches for the words separately, or as a phrase.
Some databases automatically insert “and” between each
search term and will search for references which contains the two
words anywhere in the record. Other databases automatically treat
two words entered together as a phrase.
Some databases require the phrase you are searching to be enclosed
in quotation marks, for example, “social cognition”.
Refer to the Help Screens of each for more information. The Library
Databases' Search Tips gives phrase searching instructions
for some databases. See http://www.library.mq.edu.au/find/searchtips.html
Using a phrase, therefore, allows you to narrow your search.
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Exercise
Searching using phrases
Select Library
home page and follow the steps
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Navigate to PsychINFO database.
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Enter the phrase "emotional men"
in the search box and perform the search.
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Do another search using the keywords emotional
and men.
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Compare the results noticing how the phrase search retrieves
a much smaller number of results.
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