Data or information about another data or information source. Examples of resource metadata include:

• Author
• Title
• Publication Year
• Subject Headings/Terms
• DOI, ISSN, or ISBN

• A search technique that looks for the occurrence of a keyword in the record or text of a resource.
• Also referred to as "free-text" searching

• Fields are the distinct sections of a resource's catalog or database record that provide information about the resource (i.e. the resource's metadata). Examples of record fields include:
  • Author
  • Title
  • Journal Title
  • DOI, ISSN, ISBN
• The term "field" also pertains to the empty box(es) into which you type keywords for searching in online catalogs, databases, fUSIon, or search engines.

• Words used as subject headings by a catalog or database. Subject headings/terms/descriptors are the main concepts discussed in a resource.
• Databases with controlled vocabularies provide accessible - often searchable - master lists of the controlled vocabularies used to categorize their resources. Be sure to consult this list (sometimes referred to as a "Thesaurus") before performing any subject searches to ensure you are searching the accepted term!

Tip: In EBSCO databases, Thesauri and Subject Term lists are always accessible from the blue menu at the top of the page. In ProQuest, you'll find a link to the Thesaurus on the Advanced Search page, in an option menu at the top of the white portion of the page.

• These are parameters that can be applied your search that specify which elements in a resource's record or text are important to you. For example, if you only want scholarly articles published in French after 2010, you can limit your search by
   
  • Publication Date: Most databases provide either empty search fields or a sliding chronological scale for specifying a desired publication date range.
  • Language
  • Format: When limiting for scholarly articles, always select the format limiter that explicitly reads "Peer Reviewed" or "Scholarly Articles."
     
• Limiters applied to a results list after your initial search are often referred to as "filters."

Boolean Operators broaden or narrow your search by providing search engines with instructions on how to combine your keyterms.

• AND - Combine terms with AND when you want all of the terms entered to appear in the resource.
  Example:       music AND jamaica
   
• OR - Combine synonyms or related terms with OR. This will tell the search engine that resources with any or all of these terms are acceptable.
  Example:       ska OR reggae OR rocksteady
   
• NOT - Use NOT to exclude particular terms from your search results.
  Example: Let's say you're looking for resources about different reggae musicians; but the database keeps returning resources that focus exclusively on Bob Marley. To find resources on different artists, you might try searching: "reggae artists" NOT marley

"Nesting" refers to the use of parentheses to connect terms for a search engine to parse.

Example: butter AND (peanut OR almond)

This tells the search engine that the OR applies only to the terms within the parentheses; and that these two words function as one unit to be combined with AND to the term "butter."

• Truncation is a way to efficiently and simultaneously search different variations on a word, which involves placing a truncator symbol at the end of the word root or necessary portion of the word.
  Example: If I type comprehen* into a database's search field, it will look for all words that begin with "comprehen," such as: comprehend, comprehends, comprehension, or comprehensive
• Truncators vary by catalog or database; but, the most common truncators include the asterisk *, question mark ?, or exclamation mark !.
• Databases and catalogs typically list their truncator and wildcard symbols somewhere on a help page, or in help pop-ups near search fields.

• Wildcards are symbols used in place of one or more letters in a word, for the purpose of broadening the range of terms searched by a search engine.
   
• Wildcard symbols - like truncation symbols - vary amongst databases and catalogs; and are most commonly ?, !, or *.
  
  Example: In a database that uses ! as a wildcard, a search for wom!n would look for the words "women," "woman," and "womyn."