This page lists different search techniques you can use: boolean search, exact search, masking and truncation.
Boolean searching means using AND, OR or NOT.
► AND searches for sources in which both search terms appear.
► OR searches for sources containing at least one of the search terms.
► NOT specifies which word the search engine should not search for.
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You look for articles in which different combinations of search terms recur.
► Child AND "hearing disorder"
► Child OR "young patient"
► Child NOT baby
Using double inverted comma's (". . .") allows you to do an exact search.
► This means that you literally search for the word combination between the inverted commas.
► This prevents the words between inverted commas from being looked up as separate parts.
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You look for sources in which the search terms appear in that exact order and proximity.
► Use "Hearing disorder" to avoid searching Hearing and Disorder as separate keywords.
► Use "Auditory-verbal therapy for promoting spoken language development in children with permanent hearing impairments" to search for this specific article (= title).
Masking means concealing something, e.g. that you are not sure about something. Masking is done with an asterisque / * or question mark / ? in the middle of a word.
► Use this search technique if you are not sure of the spelling.
► Use this search technique if you want to search by multiple spelling options (e.g. American English and British English).
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You let the search engine fill in a certain part of a word.
► Search Behavio*r to search for Behavior and Behaviour simultaneously.
► Search Drug? if you want to search on singular and plural at the same time (Drug or Drugs).
Truncation means leaving out part of the word. Usually this works with an asterisque / * (one or more characters) or question mark / ? (one character).
► Search with a wildcard to truncate a word from a certain place and automatically search for all possible endings.
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You want to return part of a word anyway and let the search engine search with all possible outputs.
► Use Therap* to search for Therapeutic, Therapies, Therapy ...
► Use *tension to search for Hypertension, Hypotension, ...
► Use P*ediatrics to search for Paediatrics and Pediatrics