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Searching for Articles & Using Databases

Find it by Field Searching!

Searching in a database using different fields can be a powerful way to find relevant results.  A field is a specific part of a record in a database. Common fields that can be searched are:

  • Author
  • Title
  • Subject
  • Full- text

If you already know the author of a specific article, entering their Last Name, First Initial in the author field will pull more relevant records than a keyword search. This will ensure all results are articles written by the author and not articles about that author or just with that author’s name mentioned anywhere in the record.


Why Search a Specific Field?

bullseye showing the narrower results of searching for albert einstein as an author vs. as a keyword.

bullseye images showing the differences in search results when searching for albert einstein as either the author of a work or as a keyword in a search.  As an author, the results more limited.