This information is specifically written to provide information on searching Biological Abstracts and Science Citation Index on the Web of Science Platform. Other database systems may have different proximity operators and truncation symbols.
To search indexes such as Biological Abstracts and Science Citation Index a search strategy must be developed. The following steps can guide users through the process:
1. Identify search topics. This can be done by writing a sentence describing the topic of interest:
Fungi in forest soils Ground beetles of prairies
Mississippi River Fish communities Flying squirrel habitat in Illinois
Genetic Tests for Multiple Sclerosis
Identify the key terms in those sentences. These are the terms that will be searched in the indexes:
Fungi in forest soils Ground beetles of prairies
Mississippi River fish communities Flying squirrel habitat in Illinois
Genetic Tests for Multiple Sclerosis
2. Use quotation marks to search for phrases.
“Flying squirrel” “Mississippi River” "Glaucomys volans" "Multiple Sclerosis"
3. Connect search terms using AND.
Fungi AND forest AND soils
"Ground beetles" AND prairies
"Mississippi River" AND Fish AND ecology
"Flying squirrel" AND habitat AND Illinois
Genetic AND Tests AND "Multiple Sclerosis"
4. Combine similar terms using OR. If other terms can be used to describe a concept, search them as well, but combine them using OR instead of AND. For example, genetic mappping could also be called genetic testing or genetic sequencing.
("Flying squirrel" OR "Glaucomys volans") AND habitat AND Illinois
Genetic AND Tests AND ("Multiple Sclerosis" OR MS)
5. Use parentheses to group parts of searches together. Terms in parentheses are searched before the rest of the terms. See examples above and below. Note that parentheses can be nested.
6. To search various forms of a word, use Wildcards and Truncation Symbols. The truncation symbol in Biological Abstracts and Science Citation Index is the asterisk (*). The ? (Question Mark) and $ (Dollar Sign) are used as wildcards.
* (Asterisk) – Used as a truncation symbol to search for all forms of a term.
Examples: Gen* Finds: Gene, Genes, Genetic, Genetically
Test* Finds: Test, Tests, Testing, etc.
Ecol* Finds: Ecology, ecological (and other spellings)
? (Question Mark) – Used as a truncation symbol to replace only one character.
Examples: Gene? Finds: Gene and Genes but not Genetic or Genetically
Test? Finds: Test and Tests but not Testing
Wom?n Finds: Woman or Women
$ (Dollar Sign) – Used to replace zero or one character.
Examples: Colo$r Finds: Color or Colour
Pal$ontology Finds: Paleontology or Palaeontology
7. Use NOT to eliminate terms that might not be appropriate for your research.
(Gene* AND (Sequencing OR Mapping OR Testing) AND Disease) NOT Cancer*
8. Use the Find It button to see if a journal article is available in the WIU Libraries. All records in Biological Abstracts and Science Citation Index will have a button that looks like this:
NOTE: Many of these techniques work in Google too!