Electronic Search Strategies: Exact - Phrase Searching
Electronic Search Strategies: Exact - Phrase Searching
Phrase searching is a way to do a more specific search and to eliminate some of the results that don't relate to your needs.
When you do a phrase search you'll be able to locate pages in which those words appear together in that order. This is obviously useful for finding things that have a proper name consisting of several words (e.g., places, book titles, people). It's also useful when you can remember a distinctive phrase in something you've read, but now need to locate it.
To do a phrase search, type the exact phrase you're looking for surrounded by quotation marks.
For example, a search for
"Ernest Hemingway"
will retrieve
articles about "Ernest Hemingway"
but not some other "Ernest" or some other "Hemingway"
"chronic fatigue syndrome"
will retrieve
articles about the illness "chronic fatigue syndrome"
but not some other "chronic" or "fatigue" or "syndrome"
Another use for this feature: stamping out urban legends. Next time you get an e-mail warning you about a repressive new law about to pass or a vicious computer virus about to attack, check it out by searching for it on the Internet before passing on misinformation to others. Type in any unusual or unique phrase you see in the e-mail and see if others have commented on this particular rumor.
You are ready to try these new skills in one of the library databases.
- Go to EBSCO's Student Research Center
in your Student Resources box to the right OR the ALL DATABASES selection to choose a database in which to search.
- Type your search phrase in the search box and click on Search.
