Statistics on Women and Gender : Search Tips
Search Tips
1) In women-focused databases, such as GenderWatch or Women's Studies International there’s usually no need to put “women” into your search, except where “women” is already part of the term.
2) In other databases such as Academic Search Premier or ProQuest Research Library, that are not women-focused, try to search for women (OR girls, if relevant) as one concept. Add AND to include your specific concept, such as hip hop, promiscuity, or childbirth. You don’t need to put in “women” if your concept already contains a “women word” (ex: chick flicks, mothers, lipstick lesbians, or a celebrity name.)
3) To search for synonyms or words that are connected in meaning and relevant to your search use OR. (ex: patriarchy or androcentrism or sexism; consumers or marketing or selling or product)
4) Put an asterisk at the end of an incomplete term to search for word stems (this is called truncation). This means any ending of the stem word will be found. (ex: Typing consum* will find consume, consumer, consumption, etc.)
5) Whenever possible narrow your search results to include only scholarly or peer reviewed sources. This can usually be done in an Advanced Search or on a sidebar after the initial search
6) If you find a book or article that relates to your topic take a look at the controlled vocabulary, subject and index terms or tags. Use these exact terms in your next search to find other articles that have been similarly cited. Switching to these "official" controlled vocabularies, subject and index terms or tags will help the database sort and find materials relevant to your topic.