This information is specifically written to provide information on searching 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 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:
Use of Recombinant DNA in Medicine Fuel Production using Biomass
Groundwater contamination by herbicides Chemical Detection of Explosives
Identify the key terms in those phrases. These are the terms that will be searched in the indexes.
Use of Recombinant DNA in Medicine Fuel Production using Biomass
Groundwater contamination by herbicides Chemical Detection of Explosives
2. Use quotation marks to search for phrases.
“Recombinant DNA” "Fuel Production" "Groundwater Contamination"
3. Connect search terms using AND.
"Recombinant DNA" AND Medicine Fuel Production AND Biomass
"Groundwater contamination" AND herbicides Chemical AND Detection AND Explosives
4. Combine similar terms using OR.
("Recombinant DNA" OR rDNA) AND Medicine
(Zinc OR ZN) AND Vaporization
(Contamination OR Pollution) AND (Groundwater OR Aquifers) AND herbicides
5. Use parentheses to group parts of searches together. Terms in parentheses are searched before the rest of the terms. See examples above.
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: Molecul* Finds: Molecule, Molecules, Molecular
Contaminat* Finds: Contaminate, Contaminates, Contamination, Contaminating, etc.
Metal* Finds: Metal, Metals, Metallic, Metallurgy, Metallurgical, etc.
? (Question Mark) – Used as a truncation symbol to replace only one character.
Examples: Molecule? Finds: Molecule and Molecules but not Molecular
Metal* Finds: Metal & Metals, but not Metallic, Metallurgy, Metallurgical, etc.
$ (Dollar Sign) – Used to replace zero or one character.
Examples: Colo$r Finds: Color or Colour
Pal$oclimatology Finds: Paleoclimatology or Palaeoclimatology
7. Use NOT to eliminate terms that might not be appropriate for your research.
(Turbulence AND (Suppression OR Reduction)) NOT Gas
(Molecular AND Cloud) NOT Earth
8. Use the Find It button to see if a journal article is available in the WIU Libraries. All records in Science Citation Index will have a button that looks like this:
NOTE: Many of these techniques work in Google too!