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Search Tips

Google vs. Databases

Searching for information requires using the right tools. For academic research, you might be able to find what you need through a search engine (like Google),or you may need to go to a research database. Let's take the following example research question:

Does using TikTok lead to anxiety among teens?

Some search engines enable you to enter a whole sentence or question and will return results that tend to include the major concepts from your search:

Google search results page for the question "does using tiktok lead to anxiety among teens"

In this example, Google has included synonyms such as "adolescents" instead of "teens", and "social media" instead of "TikTok".

Databases work differently than Google and other search engines. Instead of interpreting the meaning of your search, databases return results solely based on the words you use in your search.

This means you have more control over your search results, but you have to be more precise with your language.

Searching Databases

To effectively search library databases for academic research, follow the guidelines in this guide: