BIOL 3200: Writing for Biologists

When you start a search, the words you type in the search bar are called keywords. When choosing what keywords to type, you should select keywords that are specific to your research topic or question.

Avoid Full Sentences

Every word you type into a search bar the search thinks needs to be in the search results. So, it is important that you avoid typing in full sentences like, "How does climate change impact sea turtles?".

In this example I'd want to remove how and does and instead use the the keywords climate change and sea turtles. By focusing on the main ideas of your research topic you are making your search more specific and should be able to find more relevant search results

You can use AND, OR, and NOT to build a search phrase that helps narrow or broaden your search results.

• AND: Narrows your search and retrieves results that include both terms you are searching.
  • I.e., birds AND "wind farms"
• OR: Broadens your search and retrieves items that include both terms.
  • I.e., birds OR raptors
• NOT: Narrows your search and excludes items with a certain term.
  • I.e., birds NOT raptors

You can also use " " quotation marks and ( ) parenthesis to build your search.

• " " Quotation marks will tell OneSearch when you are looking for a phrase and keeps two or more terms together.
  • I.e., By putting " " quotation marks around the phrase "wind farms" OneSearch will know to only look for the two terms together.
• ( ) Parenthesis put your search words into sets. It's particularly useful when you are using AND, OR, or NOT.
  • I.e., (Birds OR raptors) and "wind farms"