This page includes an overview of search commands and various tips and tricks for performing advanced searches in library databases.
Like most of our databases, our Gateway Search supports Boolean operators (and, or, not - please see this page if you are unfamiliar with searching with Boolean operators). Below are a few more basic search commands.
A Quick Note: The EGCC Library's Gateway Search defaults to the Find all my search terms mode. This means that Gateway Search automatically adds and between each of the terms entered into the search box. What this means is that a search for online learning is actually searched as online AND learning.
Search Commands:
Quotations:
Field Codes:
| TX | All Text | Performs a keyword search for the keyword in the full text as well as the citation record. |
| AU | Author | Performs a keyword search for any authors of an article. |
| TI | Title | Searches keywords in a record's English and non-English title field. |
| SU | Subject Terms | Performs a keyword search of the subject headings listed in the records. |
| SO | Source | Performs a keyword search for the journal name of the article. |
| AB | Abstract | Performs a keyword search of the abstract summaries. |
| IS | ISSN | Performs an exact search for a publication's International Standard Serial Number. |
| IB | ISBN | Performs an exact search for an article's identification number in the ISBN and EISBN fields. |
Example Search using Field Codes:
Example: AU Richards AND SU "College Library" - This search searches for an author with the last name of Richards and includes the Subject terms "College Library".
Combine multiple terms in the same field with the use of Parentheses:
Example: AU (Richards AND Jones) AND SU "college library" - This search searches an article in the author field for the names Richards and Jones and in the subject terms for "college library".
Wildcard & Truncation Searching:
Truncation and Wildcard searching are also supported in our Gateway Search and EBSCOhost databases. Wildcard and Truncation searching greatly expands your ability to search in situations where a term may have multiple possible endings, spellings or if you have unknown characters (or don't know the correct spelling).
The following are supported search commands.
The Asterisk Wildcard (*)
The asterisk (*) wildcard or truncation wildcard allows users to attach an (*) to a term root and search for multiple endings at once.
Example: learn* searches for: learn, learned, learner, learning and any other possible endings of the word.
Using asterisks between search terms is also a helpful method to search for multiple variations of a phrase and can be used to match any single word that may appear between two other words.
Example: online * student will match phrases such as online college student, online graduate student, etc.
The Hash Wildcard (#)
The hash wildcard is useful for spelling variations. A hash may be added within a word where a spelling variation may occur. Sometimes cultural spellings differ for English words; for example, in the U.S. color does not contain a u, whereas Canadian and UK English speakers spell color as colour.
Example: To search for both variations of color in our Gateway Search you can use a # in the word where the alternate spelling would occur such as colo#r.
Example 2: To search for pediatric which can also be spelled paediatric, use p#ediatric to search both spellings.
The Question-Mark Wildcard (?)
The ? wildcard allows you to search for terms where you are unsure of the proper spelling or have missing characters. To use the ? wildcard you would enter a ? for the unknown characters.
Example: A search for b?tter would search for batter, butter, bitter and better.
Note: Question marks at the end of a word or phrase are not treated as wildcards. In order to use a ? wildcard at the end of a word or phrase it must be preceded by the #. For example: wind#?. Wind#? will search and match winds, windy but not wind.
Using Multiple Wildcards
You can combine multiple wildcards in your search terms.
Example: A search for colo#r* would search for terms using either the American or English spelling of color in addition to any compound words with the root word color. So, colo#r* would match colorblind, colourblnd, coloring, colouring, etc.
When Wildcards Wont Work:
Our EBSCO databases also support proximity searching. Proximity searching allows you to specify the order and distance of your search terms from one another. Our Gateway Search and EBSCO databases recognize the following two proximity searches.
The Near Operator (N):
The Near Operator (N) allows you to specify how many words you wish your terms to fall within one another in any order.
Example: online N5 learning will find results that contain the terms online and learning within 5 words of one another in any order and would include results with both online learning and learning online. [You can substitute the 5 for any number. The number you choose would represent the maximum distance that your terms would appear apart from one another.]
The Within Operator (W)
The Within Operator (W) allows you to specify the distance and the order that your terms will appear of one another. The order that you type your terms in will be the order in which they are searched.
Example: online W5 learning will find results tat contain the terms online and learning within 5 words of one another where online appears before learning. This search will bring back results for online learning but not learning online.
The ability to search using the Subject or Thesaurus Term Index is available in individual EBSCO databases but not Gateway Search.
When this option is available a link in the top menu bar will be available and read either Subject Terms or Thesaurus. Click on this link to be taken to the index to search or browse subject terms.
The image below outlines a few important fields in the Subject Term Index. Using the index, you can search and browse for subject terms. Once you find the term you wish to use, select the checkbox next to the term and click on the add button. When adding multiple terms you can designate whether to combine the terms with AND, OR, NOT by using the drop down box next to add.
Exploding terms: When you Explode a term, you add all the related subject terms (broader and narrower). To see which terms may be included in an exploded search click on the hyperlinked subject term.
