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Searching for Literature

This guides covers the steps involved when searching for literature along with instructions and tips for conducting effective searches and managing your information.

Advanced searching

The following tips will enable you to perform more advanced searches in databases and search engines.

Check each database for search tips specific to their platform.

Contact Ask a Librarian if you'd like assistance to incorporate any of these into your search strategy.

Define database search parameters

Use relevant search fields or field codes (also referred to as field tags) to instruct the database to search for your keywords in specific locations within a reference.

Examples of search fields and field codes from a selection of databases are below (check each database for a complete list).

Web of Science field tags

*Note: Each Web of Science database has different field tags, so check the collection you are searching for the specific list.

Web of Science (All Databases) Web of Science (Core Collection)                  

Scopus field codes

*Note: This is a sample of the large range of field codes available in Scopus.

Check Scopus Advanced search for the complete list.

ProQuest field codes (Advanced search)

*Note: ProQuest uses different types of field codes including Advanced, Command Line Search and Search fields as limiters.

Refer to ProQuest's Field Codes page to view the list for the type of search you are undertaking.

Find words located near each other

Use proximity operators to find one word located near another word in the same reference and increase the relevance of your results.

Note: Not all databases use proximity indicators. Check the Help function within each database to see if proximity indicators are used.

Web of Science

  • NEAR/x – find records where the terms are located within a specified number of words of each other. 

Note: If you use NEAR without /x, the system will find records where the terms joined by NEAR are within 15 words of each other.

Example: coral NEAR/3 bleach* finds the term 'coral' within 3 words of all variations of the term 'bleach*'. 

  • SAME - used in an address search to find terms that appear in the same address within a Full Record.

Example: Monash Univ SAME Melbourne SAME Australia finds records in which Monash University appears in the Address field of a Full Record along with Melbourne and Australia.

Scopus

  • PRE/n (Preceding) – find records where the first terms is no more than n words away from the second term, and the order of terms matters.

Example: "Great Barrier Reef" PRE/5 "coral bleaching"​ finds the phrase "Great Barrier Reef" within 5 words of the phrase "coral bleaching" and "Great Barrier Reef" appears first.

  • W/n (Within) – find records where the first term is no more than n words away from the next term, but the order does not matter.

Example: restor* W/5 "coral reef" finds all variations of the term 'restor*' within five words of the phrase "coral reef" and either term can appear first.

Refine your results using database functions

Use the limiters within a database to further refine your search results.

The following is a selection of databases and their limiters. Check individual databases for the full range of options.

Web of Science Scopus                                              ProQuest