Information Literacy Guide | Locating Information | Electronic Searching Resources | Site Outline

 

Locating Information: Electronic Searching: Exact Phrase Searching
  1. Dewey Decimal System
  2. Using the Online Catalog
  3. Reference Tools
  4. Electronic Searching

When you do a phrase search you'll be able to locate pages in which those words appear together in that order. This is obviously useful for finding things that have a proper name consisting of several words (e.g., places, book titles, people). It's also useful when you can remember a distinctive phrase in something you've read, but now need to locate it.

 

Exact Phrase Searching

To locate the rest of the poem that starts with "Jenny kissed me when we met"?

For example, a search for a specific person "ernest hemingway"
articles about ernest hemingway and not some other ernest or some other hemingway

The ability to search for phrases can be surprisingly useful. If a teacher suspects that something a student turned in was plagiarized, or at least heavily borrowed without citing or giving proper credit, just type in a phrase or two from the paper and see if it turns up elsewhere! You can also check to see if your own work is being copied without your permission.

Another use for this feature: stamping out urban legends. Next time you get an e-mail warning you about a repressive new law about to pass or a vicious computer virus about to attack, check it out before passing on misinformation to others. Type in any unusual or unique phrase you see in the e-mail and see if others have commented on this particular rumor.

You are ready to try these new skills in one of the library data bases. Go to either EBSCO or Infotrac and select a database to search. Type your search strategy in the search box and click on Search.

On to the next section... Subject & Keyword Searching

 

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Last modified: October, 2003 by Steinke, Ague, Feuerhelm, Maxwell, and Warburg