Music: Databases & Journals

Identify Keywords

The building block of a library database search is keywords. Keywords are central ideas or terms within your research question or problem. 

Boolean Search Operators

Once you have your keywords identified (2-3 is a good place to begin), you then need to connect them together in a way the database understands how to search. This is done using the Boolean search operators AND, OR, and NOT. Connecting keywords using these search operators creates a search string. 

• AND - narrow search, used to combine terms together and focus search results (college and artificial intelligence)
• OR - broad search, used to includes results that contain similar or like words, such as synonyms (ChatGPT or artificial intelligence)
• NOT - narrow search by exclusion, used to exclude results containing a particular keyword (gaming not gambling)

Enter Keywords in Database Search

1. Enter your keywords, connected with the appropriate Boolean operator.
2. Use the filters to narrow your results. Peer reviewed and full text are automatically selected, but you may want to narrow the results to those published in the last 10 years.

Using Search Results

• Sort your search results by Date Newest so the most current information on a subject is at the top of your results.
• Use the "Cited by" or "Cited References" features contained in many library databases to view a list of resources that have cited the particular article currently being viewed in their own work or are contained within the Reference list of the current article being viewed.

​Do not limit your search to just one database. Instead look at a variety of databases both subject specific and interdisciplinary to make sure you are viewing the full scope of literature published on your topic.