It is important to keep in mind that when searching the LGBTQIA+ community that term encompasses many communities and individuals. Using our Context & Terminology page can help you to understand knowledge collection and sharing that exist within academia and problematic terminology. Searching in databases, catalogs, and search engines will usually require stringing together many terms/phrases/words to find what you need. For example, if you are doing research on gay males you might want to start the search with: ("men who have sex with men" OR gay OR homosexual)
There are many different variations of how to search so utilize this page to better understand creating an effective search and feel free to reach out to a librarian to ask for help.
1. Isolate keywords from your topic.
2. Narrow your search results to include all of your keywords using AND.
"United States" AND cultural competence AND health care
3. Expand your search using OR to find like terms.
"United States" AND "cultural competence" AND ("health care" OR healthcare)
Combining search terms with AND:
For Example
A search for "United States" yields 314,000 results results
A search for cultural competence yields 1,700 results
A search for cultural competence AND "United States" yields 429 results
Combining search terms with OR:
For Example
A search for "health care" yields 263,000 results
A search for healthcare yields 170,000 results
A search for "health care" OR healthcare yields 317,000 results
For Example
A search for caregiver yields 13,300 results
A search for caregiver NOT family yields 6,700 results
Use Quotation Marks to:
This shows the search engine that you want the terms to be found together. The search will look for exactly what you place in the quotation marks, so be sure there are no mistakes.
For Example
A search for United States yields over 500,000 results
A search for "United States" yields about 300,000 results
Use Truncation to:
Search engines match your exact terms to results; they will not automatically find an alternate version of it. Truncation tells the search to match the root of your term and gives it freedom to find whatever endings it can.
For Example
A search for cultural yields 36,000 results
A search for cultur* yields over 95,000 results
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Keywords |
Subjects |
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Natural language words that describe your topic |
Pre-defined "controlled vocabulary" that describe what an item is about |
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More flexible search - looks for anywhere the words appear in the record |
Less flexible search - only the subject fields will be searched |
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Broader search, but may yield irrelevant results |
Targeted search; results are usually more relevant to the topic, but may miss some variations |
Keyword searching is how we normally start a search. Pull out important words or phrases from your topic.
Subject Terms and/or Headings are pre-defined terms that are used to describe the content of an item. These terms are a controlled vocabulary and function similarly to hashtags on social media.
We are indebted to the MIT What are subject headings and keywords? box and Sarah Lawrence Finding Resources Guide for some concepts displayed here.
In the Catalog, subject headings are displayed under "Description" in the record of an item. Click on the arrow to the left of "Description" and then scroll down to the section called "Subjects."
In the Databases, subject headings may be listed as Descriptors, Subjects and/or Subject Headings and are typically located in the Abstract and/or Details of an article.
Please be aware that some subject headings in databases are outdated and potentially offensive to individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community. Please see the Context section for further information. This section also includes a Terminology Index with more up-to-date terminology.
Please be aware that some subject headings in databases are outdated and potentially offensive to individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community. Please see the Context section for further information. This section also includes a Terminology Index with more up-to-date terminology.
