By Dana Longley, assistant director for Library Instruction and Info Literacy

There are a variety of search techniques that can be used when searching, whether using a library database or Google. You may have heard the term 'Boolean operator' or seen some techniques (AND, OR, NOT, double quotes, asterisk, etc.). However, the techniques that work in one search tool may not work in another. With the exception of double quotes around commonly-used exact phrases, which can be useful, you almost never need most of those advanced techniques to create an effective search. I've been a librarian for more than 20 years and I almost never use NOT, OR, or an asterisk.

There is one part of searching that is far more important and powerful than anything else: terminology. If you don't have a handle on the words and phrases that experts use when writing about a topic, all the Boolean operators in the world won't help you. Here's an example:

TOPIC: "The effect of global warming on penguin habitats..."

Possible search words/phrases (hint: enclose exact phrases in double quotes): "global warming" penguins

Language, however, is tricky. There are often multiple ways to describe a single concept. For example, global warming could also be climate change. In scientific literature, penguin genus names are often used (e.g., Aptenodytes or Pygoscelis) instead of common names like Emperor Penguin or Adele Penguin. Without knowing these alternate terms, you might miss out on large chunks of relevant results!

You can often bridge this gap in terminology by looking it up in Wikipedia. Many students don't think to use Wikipedia because faculty discourage it. This is generally true: you should not use Wikipedia as a cited source in your academic work. However, it can be invaluable as a source of expanding your search terminology, and a way to understand the overall history and scope of your topic. If you don't understand the basics of where and how penguins live, or how climate change works, how can you find and understand the existing scholarly literature and write intelligently about the intersection of those two concepts?

The process above is sometimes referred to as Background Reading. It's an essential research hack that all students should use from time to time (it's also a skill highly valued by employers).