This FAQ is a companion to our Finding Journal Articles Fast workshop.
Please contact the library for more in-depth information and advice.
Recommended Journal Article Databases
You can access our journal articles databases to search for helpful resources.
*For this guide, we used ProQuest Central. However, these skills can also be applied when searching other academic databases, library catalogues as well as Google Scholar.
Building A Search Sentence
The main goal is to create an effective search sentence to find the most relevant resources. This is done by typing in relevant keywords and connecting them together with filters.
AND: Type AND in capital letters to connect different ideas together.
OR: Type OR in capital letters to connect similar ideas together.
*Boolean filters should be typed in all capital letters so the search engine is unlikely to be confused
Quotation: Use "quotation marks" to connect multiple words into a single phrase so we can search it together.
Truncation: Add an asterisk * to the end of a word to search for all possible endings of that word.
Add & combine multiple filters to improve the search sentence.
Improving Search Results
Full text: Guarantees complete access to the resource
Peer reviewed: A process where journal articles are evaluated by other researchers/experts in the same field before publication. Peer reviewed articles are more likely to be higher quality, relevant and accurate. For more details, see the Peer Review FAQ.
Publication date: Filters for the most recent resources. Recently published works are more likely to be relevant and up to date. It's generally recommended to set this filter to the last 5 years.
Extra Tips
If you get too few search results, try simplifying your search by using fewer keywords and filters, or experimenting with other connected keywords.
If you get too many search results, try being more specific with your search by adding in more connected keywords and filters.
For further practice, click on our Finding Journal Articles Fast Activity page.