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Agriculture

Guide to Agriculture Research in the Cal Poly Library: covers Animal Science, Agribusiness & Food Industry Management, Agricultural Education, Food Science, Human Nutrition and Plant Science.

Tips for Creating Advanced Keyword Searches

These tips can be used, in general, with the Library's OneSearch, databases, and on the open Web.

Try Boolean operators or connectors

  • AND = Fewer results. All of your search terms must be found in the results. EXAMPLE: mare AND foal AND health. You could also just type: mare foal health.

  • OR = More results. Any one or more of your search terms must be found in a result. EXAMPLE: problem OR complication OR concern.

  • NOT = Fewer results. Word(s) must be excluded from the results. EXAMPLE: corn NOT toes. The word "toes" would be excluded.

Try a phrase search

  • Find words that appear in a particular order. Type the words in order between quotation marks. EXAMPLE: "reproductive evaluation".

Try a truncation search

  • Finds words that start with certain letters. Type a word stem, then add an asterisk symbol. EXAMPLE: Insemin* will find inseminate, inseminated, insemination, inseminating.

Try a nested search

  • Use parentheses to separate search statements so they can be combined and performed in order. Statements inside parentheses are searched first, and the order of operations is left to right. EXAMPLE: tests AND (problems OR complications)

Try an index or field search

  • Find words in a particular index or field. EXAMPLE: You can search for words within the Title, Abstract, or Subject field.
  • If the search tool provides a way to search by NAICS (North American Industry Classification System), you can try one of the NAICS codes provided below.
    • 112920 - Horses and Other Equine Production (part of NAICS 112 - Animal Production)
    • 115210 - Support Activities for Animal Production (part of NAICS 115 - Support Activities for Agriculture and Forestry)

Learn more about NAICS: Find out which NAICS code your business fits into. At the US Census web site, you can search NAICS codes to see which ones include "horse" in their description. You can also explore a list of industries by NAICS code at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics web site.

Modifying Your Search

Search Order

Databases follow commands you type in and return results based on those commands. Be aware of the logical order in which words are connected when using Boolean operators: 

  • Databases usually recognize AND as the primary operator, and will connect concepts with AND together first.
  • If you use a combination of AND and OR operators in a search, enclose the words to be connected with OR in parentheses.

Examples:

  • ethics AND (cloning OR reproductive techniques)
  • (ethic* OR moral*) AND (bioengineering OR cloning)

Too Many Results

Your topic or research question could potentially be too broad, returning a large number of irrelevant results. Since most topics involve multiple aspects and different contexts, you may need to narrow your topic to find acceptable resources. When narrowing a topic, make sure your new search still reflects the main idea.

Here are some techniques to help narrow your topic.

Technique Description Search Example Less Results
Quotations Add quotations around two or more keywords to create a specific search phrase  social justice "social justice"
Add a Focus Too broad of a topic will retrieve too many results. Add a focus to reduce the number. “oil wells” AND construction “oil wells” AND construction AND Texas
Use Boolean Term NOT  Excluding a keyword or phrase from searching will remove any articles referring to that topic.  ethics AND “alternative medicine”  ethics AND “alternative medicine” NOT acupuncture 
Add Keywords The more keywords you add, the fewer results you will get. “rap music” “rap music” AND gender

 

Too Few Results

If you returned too few results, your topic or research question could be too narrow or specific to find enough information. You may need to broaden your topic to find acceptable resources.

Here are some techniques to help broaden your topic.

Technique Description Search Example More Results
Check Spelling Unlike many search engines, databases will not correct a misspelled word. “intrest rates” AND inflation “interest rates” AND inflation
Reduce Keywords The more keywords you have, the lower number of results you will retrieve. bees AND honey AND pollination AND food AND Florida  bees AND pollination AND food
Try Synonyms Replace keywords with different words that have the same or similar meaning.  females AND “relationship abuse” women AND “relationship abuse”
Try Related Terms Use keywords that are related to your topic, but not exactly the same. universities AND “academic achievement” “higher education” AND “academic achievement” 
Add Boolean Term OR  Add OR between synonyms or related terms to expand results. advertising AND children advertising AND (children OR teenagers)
Change the Focus Too narrow of a focus will produce fewer results. “Seminole County” AND habitat AND “black bears” Florida AND habitat AND “black bears"
Truncation Add an asterisk(*) to the end of a root word to expand search education educat* (education, educated, educator, etc.)

Find Information on the Open Web

Google logo by Ruth Kedar
Logo by R. Kedar (1999)

Search the open Web more effectively with the links and tips below. Keep in mind that many online sources are plagiarized or of questionable quality.  When using online sources, ask yourself the following questions:

Who is the author? -- What are her/his credentials? -- What possible biases exist? -- When was this source published?

More on connecting Google Scholar with Library databases

 

Here's how you change your settings in Google to connect the library resources.

Visit scholar.google.com

1. Click on the drop down button located on the left hand side. 

2. Select "Settings"

arrow pointing to settings in google scholar's side bar

In Settings:

1. Click on "Library Links"

2. In the search box, enter "Cal Poly Pomona" and select the search button.

3. Select "Cal Poly Pomona - Find It Cal Poly Pomona"

4. Save your settings by clicking "Save"

library links circled, cal poly pomona written in the search bar and find it "cal poly pomona" box checked off

Doing a search, you will notice on the right-hand side, "Find It Cal Poly Pomona" appears.  This is to let you know that Cal Poly Pomona University Library might have access to the article/book.

 

Find It Cal Poly Pomona in Google Scholar

 

A good strategy for using the open Web

Whenever possible, look for information from web sites that are published by relevant and reliable entities. You can learn about relevant and reliable entities from class lectures and conversations with your professors. You can also pick up names of relevant and reliable entities from the text and cited sources or Bibliography of your textbook, library books, peer-reviewed journal articles, and the library's research guides. Relevant and reliable entities would include an expert individual or group, a reputable institution, organization, company, or a government agency.

News stories, magazine articles, and other "popular" forms of information that are directed at the general public, could also provide helpful leads, depending on your assignment. Relevant and reliable entities are often mentioned in articles from well-regarded international and local newspapers, including The Times of London, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times. These are just a few examples. Try the links below to explore further!

Helpful links:

How can you tell if a source will be good for your assignment?

This CPP Library video illustrates how to evaluate Information with the CRAAP Test.