Image credit: http://www.stenudd.com/myth/greek/pythagoras.htm
"Number is the ruler of forms and ideas, and the cause of gods and demons."
-Pythagoras
Try ESearch for a quick search of a little of everything. You can then limit your results using the filters. Find tips on searching for articles in ESearch here.
1. Try starting with a research question in mind:
How do roadways affect the migratory patterns of white-tailed deer?
2. Limit to the main concepts:
roadways migratory patterns white-tailed deer
3. After trying a search using the main concepts, you can test out some of the Boolean search terms, quotes, and truncation symbols to expand and limit your search:
| AND | Limits | (cat) AND (dog) limits to only papers with both the word cat and the word dog. Usually assumed: cat dog will yield the same result. | |
| OR | Expands | (cat) OR (dog) expands to papers with the word cat and papers with the word dog, and papers with both cat and dog. | |
| NOT | Limits | (cat) NOT (dog) limits to papers that have cat but not dog | |
| " " | Limits | "German shepherd dog" will find papers only with the words German shepherd dog in that exact order and spelled that exact way. | |
| * | Expands | anim* will find papers with the words: animal, animals, animate, animated, animosity, etc. |
4. Use synonyms to expand your search.
For example, I would try a search for the main concepts listed above, but as I'm searching I might want to expand or limit my search by adding synonyms or more search terms:
(roads OR streets OR development) AND (migrat*) AND ("white-tailed deer" OR "O. virginianus") NOT accidents
Similar to helping organize a math equation, parentheses help organize a search with Boolean search terms.
