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Information Guides for Silberman School of Social Work

City University of New York, Hunter College, Hunter College Libraries

"How to" videos and tutorials for Research I

Video on using AND, OR, NOT in database searches

Video from Campellsville Libraries about how to use AND, OR, NOT in database searches

 

Video and explanation about Truncation

Video from Northcentral University Library explains how to use truncation in library database searches.

 

More examples of truncation:

When you are searching in most library databases, you can use a symbol, usually the asterisk (*), to pull up results that have different endings of a word all in one search. 

Examples:

Elder* finds results that include elder, elders, elderly, etc.

Disab* finds results that include disability, disabilities, disabled, disabling, etc.

Bab* finds baby, babies, babble, baboon, babushka, etc.  (Therefore, it is not a good idea to use bab*, since your topic probably doesn’t include all these terms!)

 

Introduction to Subject Headings

  • What you will learn
    • What are subject headings and how can they help you get search results that are more relevant to your topic
    • How to use drop down menus next to search boxes to search with subject headings
  • Error in video
    • There's a mistake in this video at second 2:02.  I said "I'm interested in making my topic a little more specific."  I meant to say, "I'm interested in making my search a little more specific."  I was searching for the same topic but changing the search to make the results more specific.