Literature Searches For REC Majors

Aim of Literature Review: to retrieve articles from scholarly periodicals on a particular subject.

AUDIENCE	Scholarly and professional
AUTHOR	Academic credentials--do not make living as writers.
APPEARANCE	Dull, few ads--often sponsored by an academic society
CONTENT (TOPIC & DOCUMENTATION)	Highly specialized; many footnotes &/or charts and graphs
LANGUAGE (VOCABULARY)	Learned reading level--specialized vocabulary.

Articles & eResources

About Search Statements

Consists of a) literal words and b) logical words

Literal words are key words that are important to the topic. For instance, you want information on head injuries that result
from skiing accidents. The literal (key) words you should choose would be "head," "injuries," and "skiing."

Logical words, also called "operators," instruct the system to retrieve records containing the literal words according to the
logic assigned.

AND=retrieves records containing BOTH words. For instance, the search statement, "head and injury and skiing,"
retrieves records that contain all three words. AND is restrictive.

OR=retrieves records containing EITHER word. For instance, the search statement, "injury or injuries," retrieves records
containing either "injury" or "injuries." The records do not have to contain both words. OR is expansive.

If you leave an operator out of the statement, most systems search for the words as a phrase. For instance, if you key in
"head injury," most systems retrieve records that contain both words "head" and "injury," and the two words appear beside
each other.

Sample Search Statements