Skip to Main Content
What to Look For
Records in library databases are comprised of fields containing specific pieces of bibliographic information. Common fields include:
-
author
-
title
-
journal title
-
abstract
-
publisher
-
date/year of publication
-
subject/descriptor
How Database Fields Improve Your Search
-
Limiting your search to specific database fields can yield more precise results.
-
For instance, if you are looking for articles by Elon Musk instead of about him, it is more efficient to limit your search to the author field.
-
To find various fields within a database, look for drop down boxes or menus to select the field you want to search.
-
Then combine words and fields together with boolean or proximity operators, depending on how precise you want to be.
-
If you do not choose a specific field, the database usually reverts to a keyword search, where your words will be searched throughout the record.
-
If your keyword search retrieves too many records (more than 50), try narrowing your search to retrieve a more manageable result.
-
Information overload - too many results - can be a worse situation than finding only 10 very relevant results.
Example of Fields
The record below shows the field names on the left: Author, Title, Source, Subject Terms, Details, Abstract, etc.