This tool is designed to help you create a search string using Boolean search operators. Add your key concepts and synonyms then click the button. The resulting search string can be copied and pasted into a database search box or UMBrella.
AND - narrows a search; connects two or more words (or phrases)
Use to include two or more key concepts, such as sleep AND students
OR - broadens a search; allows either word (or phrase) to be included
Use to expand search to related concepts, such as college OR university
This tool is designed to help you create a search string using Boolean search operators. Add your key concepts and synonyms then click the button. The resulting search string can be copied and pasted into a database search box or UMBrella.
Copy and paste the above search string into a search box
The Search Strategy Builder was developed by the University of Arizona Libraries and is used under a Creative Commons License.
You can find empirical research in many of the library databases listed here. You can copy and paste the search strategy you created in the Search Strategies Builder above to search for empirical studies on your topic.
Library resources like databases and UMBrella make it extremely easy to limit your searches to scholarly, peer reviewed publications - in some cases, it's simply a matter of checking a box!
Some databases, like ScienceDirect, don't have a box for you to check - and that's because everything in the database is peer reviewed.
HINT: Database interfaces may change, but the way you search for information does NOT change!