Skip to Main Content

Architecture

Library resources & research guide for Architecture courses

Primo VE & Catalog & ASP videos

Search FIU Libraries' Discovery Service


Search FIU Libraries' Catalog


 

SEARCHING THE DATABASES

Step 1

Start with a Discovery Advanced Search

discovery search interface

Step 2

Log in with your FIU Credentials (SSO). Have your DUO mobile app and Library Card handy to access specified materials.

Step 3

Enter your keyword(s). Start broad to later narrow down.

Step 4

Use ANDs & ORs. ORs for like terms and ANDs for independent concepts. Use an asterisk* for truncation and quotations for "exact phrases".

advanced search box with keywords

light bulbSearch Tip:

If you are getting too many articles or the information is too general add “AND”s to get more precise. If you are getting too few or too specific, unrelated articles, try thinking of synonyms to your keywords for “OR”s or try taking out some of your “AND”s.

Create a Search Strategy

 

Combine your keywords/search terms with Boolean operators

  • OR (synonyms: any of these words)
  • AND (restrict: all these words)

Break your research topic into keywords.

  • Many databases use specific terms to label documents, use these "official" database terms from the results that work for you
  • Try the thesaurus or subject headings

Use parentheses with your terms and Boolean operators to create your search phrase

  • exp. (cat OR kitten) AND (wild OR feral OR homeless)
Determine your conditions and apply them to your search as limits or filters
  • exp. publication year, document type, or Peer Reviewed
Place quotation marks (“ ”) around phrases to keep words together. 
  • Use this for an exact quote, phrase or order of the search term. exp. "latin america"
Add asterisks (*) to “fill-in-the-blank” at the end of a word 
  • The asterisk will be replaced by any applicable letters
  • This is called truncation
  • You can use asterisks as a shortcut for OR-ing words that have identical roots
  • For example, paint* will search for paint, painting, painters, painterly, etc.

Step 1: Identify Your Topic Question

Sample Question:

How does light psychologically affect patients and workers in a healthcare environment?

Step 2: Identify the main keywords and/or themes

These become the main concepts of your search strategy

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3 Concept 4
psychological effect healthcare environment patients/workers      light               

How To Find Articles

Step 3: Put Your Search Strategy Together

AND

  • Narrows your search
  • Results need both terms

OR

  • Widens your search
  • Include synonyms of your terms
  • Include similar concepts

NOT

  • Narrows your search by exclusion
  • Exacts your terms

Truncation

  • Captures alternative endings
  • paint* will fetch painters, paintings, paint, etc.

Exact Quotes

  • Exacts those terms in that order
  • exp. "latin america"

Parens

  • Organizes your search
  • (cat OR kitt*) AND adoptions

Back to our Question

How does light psychologically affect patients and workers in a healthcare environment?

Step 4. Find Synonyms & Related Terms

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3 Concept 4
psychological effect healthcare environment patients/workers light    

  behavior  

  psycholog* 

hospital* 

clinic*

“doctor’s office”

doctor* 

physician*      

nurse

“alzheimer’s patient”

sunlight

“natural light”

Each database may have different features that will expedite your searches.

Look at links and/or icons for these functions:

  • In some you can create a free account to save citations, searches, or research for later review.
  • Use the built-in citation generators
  • You can often e-mail citations or the full-text to yourself or a colleague.
  • See if the database allows you to export a citation directly into RefWorks or another bibliographic management program.

Use Boolean operators (the words AND, OR, and NOT) to combine your search terms.

  • Use AND when you want to include all of two or more terms together in the same search – use with independent concepts. AND will limit your results with each additional term.
  • Use OR when you want to include any of two or more terms in a search – use with related concepts. OR will expand your results with each additional term.
  • Use NOT when you want to exclude a term from your search. NOT will limit your results and is useful to avoid retrieving irrelevant items, but use NOT with caution! By excluding an item that briefly mentions the unwanted term, you might be excluding an otherwise useful resource.

You can use as many Boolean operators as you like in a search phrase, but include related concepts in parentheses to keep the phrase organized (this is called nesting). For example:

Dog OR Canine AND Bark NOT Tree: Messy

(Dog OR Canine) AND (Bark NOT Tree): Clear

For more information and practice exercises, see the Boolean searching guide by the Colorado State University Libraries.

From the University of Minnesota Libraries

library search tipsmore search tips

Boolean Operators: Pirates vs. Ninjas

An introduction to the basics of Boolean operators. Created to support information literacy instruction at Lincoln Memorial University's Carnegie-Vincent Library.

Discovery Searching

confused face

Databases are your primary search tool for finding articles on a topic.

Use the tools built-in to the databases and other resources to help guide you, such as subject headings, tags, related searches, etc.

  • Start with a broad term or terms
  • Continue to search and narrow down your topic to make it more manageable and specific
  • Try not to enter a long string of words or complete phrases in a single search box, some databases won't give you successful search results, try instead to break up you search into a few key words and terms
  • Repeat, repeat, repeat; you may need to repeat the process more than once in order to get to the exact type of results you are looking for
  • Try to use multiple databases, don't be satisfied with the results from just one database
  • Ask for help!  Consult with the librarians.  They can recommend other resources and help you fine-tune your search for information.