Geography: Searching Indexes

Searching in 8 Easy Steps

This information is specifically written to provide information on searching indexes on the EBSCO Platform. Other database platforms may have different proximity operators and truncation symbols. Some scholarly indexes can be searched using a system similar to Google: enter words to retrieve information on a topic. However, to search indexes, a search strategy must be developed.

1. Identify key terms for your search - To identify the topics to search, write a 1-sentence description or question about the topic:

Where can I find information on design of bus transportation routes?

I am looking for information on population changes in West Central Illinois

I am looking for information on the ecology of the Rock River in Illinois

Identify the key terms in those questions. These are the terms that will be searched in the indexes:

Where can I find information on design of bus transportation routes?

I am looking for information on population changes in West Central Illinois

I am looking for information on the ecology of the Rock River in Illinois

2. Use quotation marks to search phrases. Some examples include place names that have multiple words, the genus and species of a fossil or a rock unit name).

"McDonough County"         "La Moine River"         "Rock River"         "Quad Cities"

3. Connect search terms using the words AND or N##. AND finds terms anywhere in the record. N## finds terms in the same field of a record. When using N##, replace the ## with a number (try 8 or 10). Try the following search using N## or AND. NEAR is more precise than AND.

ecology N8 "Rock River" N10 Illinois                 population N10 changes N10 "West Central Illinois"

4. Combine similar terms using OR. There are multiple ways to describe places. For example, Macomb, Illinois is in McDonough County, which is located in the LaMoine River Basin (which sometimes might be called La Moine River Basin).

(design OR planning) AND bus AND routes

population AND (change OR changes) AND ("West Central Illinois" OR McDonough OR Hancock OR Mercer)

5. Use Parentheses to group parts of a search together. Terms in parentheses will be searched before the rest of the terms in a search. See examples above

6. To search various forms of a word, use Truncation symbols and Wildcards.

? - replaces a single character

change? will find change, changes or changed                wom?n will find woman or women

# - replaces a 0 or 1 characters

colo#r will find color or colour                   pal#eogeography will find paleogeography or palaeogeography

* - serves as a truncation symbol to search for different forms of a word or a phrase that is missing a word.

bus* will find bus, buses, bused, busing

ecol* will find ecology, ecological, ecologically (and other forms, including German spellings)

NOTE: Truncation symbols vary by index vendor. See the Guide to Truncation Symbols or the table below.

7. Use NOT to eliminate items that might not be appropriate for your research. This is especially useful for eliminating abstracts of papers presented at meetings.

NOT (ZT "Abstract Only") - will eliminate abstracts of papers delivered at conferences in EBSCO databases.

8. Use the Find It Button to see if a journal article is available in the WIU Libraries.

In indexes to journal articles available at WIU, when search results are displayed, the button displayed above will be seen. By clicking on this button, it is possible to link to the full text of journal articles. If the journal is available through the WIU Libraries, you will be prompted to connect to the journal or directed to the print publication.

The Find It Button only works for journals. It does not work for government publications or reports (which are often used in geological research).

If the item is not a journal, search the title in WestCat to see if it is available. If the item is not available in the WIU Libraries, see if it is available in I-Share. If so, you can request it using the I-Share request system. If not, it can be requested through Interlibrary Loan.