How to Search: Tools and Strategies for Scholarly Teaching and Research

A comprehensive guide to finding, evaluating, and reviewing academic literature for faculty and staff

The Search Process

Searching is an iterative process of defining your information need, identifying the language that will lead you to the resources to meet that need, evaluating your results, and adjusting to narrow, expand, or otherwise improve results.

Similar to choosing a search tool, there are multiple search techniques and functions within the tools that have distinct strengths and limitations. It is best to use a combination of approaches. This page outlines basic and advanced strategies to help you search efficiently and effectively.

Defining your Need: Keywords, Prompts, and Controlled Vocabulary

The first step in searching is identifying the best language to use: the challenge is that this often involves discovering new concepts, theories, ideas, and so forth that you were not aware of when initially beginning your search.

Most search tools provide options to search by keyword (using your own words), controlled vocabulary (using the standardized indexing terms used within the tool to describe its content), or prompt (using a built-in large language model to construct a query).

Search Mode	How to Use
Keyword: Uses your own language/word choices. Searches titles, abstracts, and/or full text depending on the tool. Ideal for initial exploration or when you’re unsure of official terminology.	Identify key concepts in your topic. Brainstorm synonyms and related words. Use phrase searching (" ") to find exact phrases and truncation () for variations in word endings, e.g.: "academic integrity" assess design
Controlled vocabulary: Uses standardized subject terms (descriptors) assigned within the search tool. Ensures high relevance and consistency; best used once you know the preferred terminology and the scope of it within your selected search tool.	There are two methods: Run a keyword search first to find a relevant source. Open the record (containing information about the source) and note its Subject Terms. Click the Subject Term to run a search or search by Field under the Advanced Search options. Run a Subject Heading/Thesaurus search directly. Navigate to the database’s Thesaurus, Subject Headings, or Controlled Vocabulary tool. Browse or search for standardized terms, review related and narrower terms, and add them directly to your search to build a more precise query.
Prompt-based / LLM-assisted: Uses a built-in large language model (LLM) to interpret your question and generate a structured query. Helps to get oriented or started on a research topic, however responses may not accurately reflect the information retrieved (lacking "source faithfulness") and are limited to open access metadata and full-text.	Enter a full natural-language question or description of your information need. Follow a framework like CLEAR (Concise, Logical, Explicit, Adaptive, and Reflective) or The Prompt Canvas. Review the AI-suggested revisions or queries (depending on the tool, note that feedback quality varies). Edit and refine the query for precision. See Mike Caulfield's Effective Follow-up Prompts for guidance.

Building Structured Searches: Boolean Operators

Search tools interpret your query based on Boolean logic and the structure of the terms you use. How you combine words, phrases, and operators determines what the system retrieves and what it ignores. Using these structures intentionally helps you move from broad, unfocused searching to precise, relevant results.

Operator / Function	Purpose	Example
AND	Narrows your search; all terms must appear in the results.	tourism AND sustainability
OR	Expands your search; retrieves items containing any of the listed terms (use for synonyms).	tourism OR travel OR hospitality
NOT	Excludes a term or concept from your results.	urban NOT rural
" " (Phrase Searching)	Retrieves the exact phrase in the exact order.	"educational technology"
* (Truncation)	Retrieves all word endings beginning with the same stem.	educat* → education, educator, educational
NEAR / N or W/N	Finds words that appear within N words of each other, in any order (improves relevance).	workplace NEAR/5 well-being
? (Wildcard)	Replaces a single character inside a word.	wom?n → woman, women
( ) (Grouping)	Controls the order of operations; combine synonyms first.	(remote work OR telecommuting) AND wellbeing

Refining Results: Fields & Filters/Limiters

After you’ve run an initial search and retrieved a list of results, most search tools provide these two broad methods to adjust the parameters of your search.

Filters/Limiters: typically found on the search results page, these let you narrow down the results by date range, document type, format, language, geography, publication status, etc.
Fields: typically found under the Advanced Search settings or page of the tool, these allow you to specify where in the record/source to find your keyword (e.g. title, abstract, subject, author, etc.). The amount of options varies widely according to the platform.

Most tools support the following basic field search options:

Field	Purpose	Example
Title	Find items whose titles directly match your key concepts (very high relevance).	TI “renewable energy”
Author	Locate works by a specific researcher or from a known author in the field.	AU “Smith, Jordan”
Subject	Use the database’s subject headings (controlled vocabulary) for precise topic matching.	SU “Educational technology”
Abstract	Search within the abstract to catch core ideas and methods without full-text noise.	AB “workforce training”

Tip: The majority of search tools provide an “Advanced Search” screen to help you apply these tools more easily:

Iterating with Results: Citation Trails/Chaining

Citation chaining (also called “citation trails” or “citation mining”) is a strategic way to deepen your search by following the citation network around a highly relevant source (sometimes referred to as a "seed" article). Instead of only using keywords and other strategies to find sources, you start with a relevant source and then look both backward and forward.

Backward Citation Chaining	Look backward in time by examining the Bibliography/References list: Open the cited sources and review them for relevance to your topic. Use the "Find sources cited in this" in the Library Search and similar functions in other search tools
Forward Citation Chaining	Look forward in time to see who has cited the source since publication. Use “Cited by” in Google Scholar, "Find sources citing this" in the Library Search, or similar functions in other search tools

Backward Citation Chaining

Look backward in time by examining the Bibliography/References list:

Open the cited sources and review them for relevance to your topic.
Use the "Find sources cited in this" in the Library Search and similar functions in other search tools

Forward Citation Chaining

Look forward in time to see who has cited the source since publication.

Use “Cited by” in Google Scholar, "Find sources citing this" in the Library Search, or similar functions in other search tools

Many search tools have this functionality included and there are also platforms built specifically for finding and mapping sources using citation trails and co-citation; for an up-to-date overview and comparison of these tools, see Aaron Tay's List of Innovative Literature mapping tools.

Citation chaining is especially useful to uncover key authors, seminal works, emerging debate threads, and the direction of research. However, there are important limitations to be aware of:

Strengths	Weaknesses
Identifies key authors, journals, and research communities Quickly traces influential works by following who a paper cites and who has cited it.	Relevancy can often be weak Use the "Search within citing articles" option in Google Scholar and similar functions in other platforms to address this.
Not limited by keywords or indexing Helps avoid missing sources due to differences in terminology, keywords you may not be aware of, or controlled vocabulary.	Can perpetuate inequities and hinder diversity Biased or uneven citation practices can hide underrepresented scholarship and emerging voices (also referred to as citation justice).
Citation relationship is neutral In general, citations only show intellectual connection, not necessarily support or agreement.	Relies on accuracy and completeness of the search tool Missing metadata or indexing gaps can limit what appears in the chain, depending on the platform you're using.
Reveals how ideas have evolved over time Citation chains can demonstrate how a concept has developed, split into sub-topics, or shifted in interpretation.	Time-dependent (linking-lag) Recent articles may not have been cited yet, so forward chaining may miss new research.
Expands your search across disciplines and methodologies Chaining can help uncover work from adjacent or unexpected fields.	Time-consuming Reviewing and filtering long citation chains takes time and judgment.

Staying Up-to-Date: Creating Search/Journal Alerts

Most search tools and publishers let you sign up to get notified (typically by email or RSS) when new sources that match your topic or new issues of a journal are published.

How to set up database search alerts:

1) Run your search

Enter your keywords, filters, date ranges, and other search parameters just as you normally do.
Use precise terms that are not overly broad (which could overwhelm your inbox) or narrow (which may miss relevant hits).
Refine until you have a satisfactory search result (e.g., relevant subject headings, keywords, journal filters, etc.).

2) Save the search / create alert

Look for a button or link labeled “Create Alert,” “Save Search,” “Save Query,” “Set an alert for this search,” or similar.
Click it. You may be prompted to name the alert, choose alert frequency (e.g., immediately, daily, weekly), and specify alert type (email or RSS feed).
Most databases will require that you have a personal account (e.g., “My Account,” “My EBSCO,” “My Research,” etc.) to enable alerts; if you don’t have one yet, look for “Sign in / Create account / Register” near the database home page.
Give saved searches a meaningful, descriptive name so you can easily distinguish it from other alerts and adjust/manage it later.

3) Confirm / manage alerts

Some databases send a confirmation email; make sure to verify if required.
To view or edit saved alerts, go to the account or search-history area (e.g., “My Alerts,” “Saved Searches,” “Search History”).
You can pause, delete, or update alerts as needed (e.g., adjust keywords, filters, or frequency).

How to set up journal search alerts:

1) Find the journal

Use the Library's Journal Finder or A-Z list of databases to locate the journal you want to follow.
Alternatively, perform a search for the journal title within a database or online.
Click on the journal title, which should lead to the journal’s landing page (either in the database or a publisher’s site).

2) Look for alert options

Buttons or links may be labeled “Email content alerts,” “Subscribe to new issues,” “RSS feed / RSS icon,” “New issue alert,” “Table of Contents (TOC) alert,” or similar.
On publisher sites, you may need to create or sign in to an account to activate alerts.
Decide how you want to receive updates (e.g., email, RSS). Some systems also let you choose frequency (e.g., every new issue, weekly digest).

3) Confirm and manage subscription

You may receive a confirmation email; make sure to verify if required.
Check your account’s alert management page (often under “My alerts / subscriptions / saved journals”) to modify or cancel alerts.
Keep alert settings under review; as your research focus evolves, update your alerts to avoid overload or irrelevant notifications.

See these resources for platform-specific instructions:

Boolean Search String Builder for Finding Sources

The Search String Builder is a tool designed to teach you how to create a search string using Boolean logic. While it is not a database and is not designed to input a search, you should be able to cut and paste the results into most databases’ search boxes.

Use quotes to "phrase search" when you have two or more words as keywords.

You can also use NOT to exclude results with a keyword, but not recommended until you actually search and if it's appropriate.

Now copy and paste the above Search String into a database search box.

The Search Strategy Builder was developed by the University of Arizona Libraries(CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US).

Understanding Saturation: When Do I Stop My Search?

Saturation occurs when you reach a point in your searching where new sources no longer add new ideas, themes, or perspectives to your understanding of the topic. You begin to see the same authors, theories, methods, and findings repeated across articles.

This is a sign that you’ve captured the core of the existing conversation and that further searching is unlikely to significantly expand your review of the topic. In other words, you’ve found “enough” of the right literature to move forward with analysis, synthesis, and writing.

Indicators that you’ve reached saturation:

You recognize authors, titles, or citations before opening the article.
New articles repeat similar findings instead of adding new insight.
Your notes, matrix, or concept map show consistent overlap between sources.
Citation chaining begins leading you back to works you already have.