Key Concepts       Database Searching

Databases differ in the following aspects:

Size of database

• Small databases are usually selected for a specific reason or criteria
• Medium-sized databases will usually have pages that the larger ones miss
• Larger databases are more difficult to search accurately

Method of indexing

• Full-text - Good for specific-term searching
• Keyword - Good for general searching
• Human - Works in with quality control and 'pick lists'

Presentation of Results

• Relevance information - some databases tell you the number of terms matched and give you a relevance score for each document
• Abstract - The blurb you get about the page can be the address up to a human written, multi-sentence abstract about the page.
• Continuing the search - Some databases make it easy to "find more like this one".

Search Engine capabilities

• Boolean - Many engines do not allow Boolean searching
• Pseudo-Boolean - Most engines do allow this "natural language" method of searching
• Phrases - The most powerful way to find what you are looking for
• Term Weighting - When usable, this can help your ranked output be more relevant
• Truncation - Most allow some form of truncation, but not all

  Click here to Practice what you have learned about database searching.