The Discovery search tool is convenient because it searches many the library's databases in a single search. However, by searching them at the same time, we lose some of the advanced search features made available in the databases individually.
As you move through your course work, your searching may need to become more complex to locate the information you need. Searching within a database directly gives you unique search options that help you get even better search results.
The examples below show the advanced search features for Business Source Complete and CINAHL Complete. Be sure to check out our full database list, which can be sorted by subject area.
Truncation provides an option to search for a root of a keyword in order to retrieve resources that include variations of that word. This feature can be used to broaden search results, although some results may not be relevant. To truncate a keyword, type an asterisk (*) following the root of the word.
For example:
Wildcards are symbols which you can incorporate into your search. They can be used to stand in for characters in a search string. The symbols used vary between databases, but are often symbols such as the question mark ? hash, #, dollar sign $
The optional wildcard replaces any character, or zero characters. If ? was the optional wildcard symbol:
searching for colo?r would retrieve color OR colour
The mandated wildcard replaces any one character. If $ was the mandated wildcard symbol:
searching for wom$n would retrieve woman or women
Wildcard content adapted from University College London - Library Skills licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
Building an effective search takes a lot of practice!
Use the Search String Builder tool below to input keywords, phrases, and synonyms and get a formatted search string that you can copy and paste into Google Scholar or library database.
(mental health OR depression OR anxiety) AND (social media OR snapchat OR facebook) AND "high school"
