Research Guides: HART 3164W Art of Buddhist Relic and Reliquary-Miller: Developing your Search

Boolean Operators

Your GSS Librarian

Stephanie Morgan

she/her/hers

Email Me

Contact:

Central Library, 800FD

615-343-7631

Subjects: Art, French, Italian

Building a Search String

To effectively use the library search, we will have to turn your research question into a search string. Most library, archive, and database searches do not work like a normal search engine -- typing out your research question as a full sentence will not work! On this page we will go through how you can use keywords, boolean operators, and filters to craft the best possible search.

Keyword Searching → Subject Searching

Take your research question and convert the most important topics and ideas into keywords and phrases.
- Notice that phrases are in quotations. Make sure to consider alternate spellings (ex. color vs. colour).

Research Question	Potential Keywords
How did Buddhist relics function as both devotional objects and symbols of political power in medieval China?	"Buddhist relics", "sacred relics", "Buddhist stupas", reliquaries Devotion, worship, ritual, "ritual practice", "sacred objects" "Tang Dynasty," "Song Dynasty," "medieval China"

Boolean Operators

AND	OR	NOT
Generates results that contain both of your search terms. ex. "Buddhist relics" AND "Tang Dynasty" Results will only show materials that contain "Buddhist relics" and "Tang Dynasty". This can be used to specify terms that are critical to your research topic, such as limiting your search to a certain geographical region or discipline area. AND is used to narrow your search & generates fewer, more specific results.	Generates results that contain one, or both, of your search terms. ex. "Buddhist relics" OR "sacred relics" Results will show materials that contain either "Buddhist relics" or "sacred relics". This can be used for geographical locations or topics that may not have a standardized name, such as "United States" OR u.s. OR America OR "United States of America" OR is used to broaden your search & generates greater, less specific results.	Generates results that do not contain one of your search terms. ex. "Buddhist relics" NOT "Hindu relics" Results will show materials that contain "Buddhist relics" but do not mention"Hindu relics". This can be used to exclude materials that may pertain to your subject, but are related to a region, discipline, or topic that you are not trying to study. NOT is used to narrow your search & generates less results. BE CAREFUL. Sometimes NOT can exclude relevant results.

AND

OR

NOT

Generates results that contain both of your search terms.

ex. "Buddhist relics" AND "Tang Dynasty"

Results will only show materials that contain "Buddhist relics" and "Tang Dynasty". This can be used to specify terms that are critical to your research topic, such as limiting your search to a certain geographical region or discipline area.

AND is used to narrow your search & generates fewer, more specific results.

Generates results that contain one, or both, of your search terms.

ex. "Buddhist relics" OR "sacred relics"

Results will show materials that contain either "Buddhist relics" or "sacred relics". This can be used for geographical locations or topics that may not have a standardized name, such as "United States" OR u.s. OR America OR "United States of America"

OR is used to broaden your search & generates greater, less specific results.

Generates results that do not contain one of your search terms.

ex. "Buddhist relics" NOT "Hindu relics"

Results will show materials that contain "Buddhist relics" but do not mention"Hindu relics". This can be used to exclude materials that may pertain to your subject, but are related to a region, discipline, or topic that you are not trying to study.

NOT is used to narrow your search & generates less results. BE CAREFUL. Sometimes NOT can exclude relevant results.

Crafting your Search

After figuring out your search terms, you can combine them with boolean operators to create an initial search string.
- ("Buddhist relics" OR "sacred relics") AND ("ritual practice" OR worship OR devotion) AND ("political authority" OR "imperial Buddhism") AND ("Tang Dynasty" OR "medieval China")

Convert to Subject Searching

Use one of the item records from your keyword search to find the subject headings.
- Replace your key words with the applicable subject headings. Or, you can click on the link and all materials with that subject heading will appear.

Additional Pro Tips

You may notice that some database searches will try to autofill your keywords based off of their subject/topic tags. Try out their suggestions. The terms they give you may result in different search results -- sometimes they work better than the search terms you developed on your own.
You can put an asterisk to include any number of characters after a root word. ex. educat* will include educate, education, educator, etc. as part of the search. However, keep in mind the * will include any phrase afterwards, so it may include things that are not related to your topic.