A database is a collection of records in which information about each document is stored. Each record is composed of fields containing specific piece of information, for example title, author or abstract.
When searching, users can choose which field to target, meaning which fields the search terms must appear in. For example, if you are searching by author name, you can limit your search to the author field. In most databases, the default search type is a combination of fields. It typically searches for your terms in the title, abstract, and subject headings, or in all indexed fields except the full text. Note that the way search terms are matched to fields varies between databases. Always check the available search fields in the database’s help pages or in your library’s database guides.
Below you see an example of a record in Scopus database. You can open the record by clicking the title in the search result list. When you are searching information about a specific topic, the relevant fields used are usually the title, abstract and the keywords.
The most common fields for searching by topic can be selected from the drop-down menu on the search form.
Command search typically provides access to an even broader selection of search fields.
You might find it useful to restrict your search to only the title field. Such cases could be for example:
Bear in mind, that if you restrict your search to the title field, you might lose some relevant results.
Below you see an example of a search in Scopus database. The words learning and "intrinsic motivation" are restricted to the title field (article title). Both search terms must be found in the titles of the search results.
In full text databases it is possible to search from the full contents of the books, articles and other documents. A full text search is worth using for example when:
Below you see an example of a full text search in Ebsco ebook collection. The word self-efficacy is focused on the field All text, and the word is searched from the full contents of the books in the database. The word learning is combined to the search with operator AND and is focused on the default search field (all fields). With this kind of search you'll find books on the topic learning that include the term self-efficacy.
