Search Term Strategies for Web of Science

Access Requirements and General Search Behavior

• Network Access Restrictions: Users must be located within the FU-Netzwerk (Free University Network) or be logged in via a VPN (Virtual Private Network) client to gain access to the Web of Science search interface.

• Direct URL: The specific access point for searches is located at $https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/basic-search$.

• Case Sensitivity: Capitalization is entirely irrelevant to search results in Web of Science.

  • Example: Searching for the terms $AIDS$, $Aids$, or $aids$ will yield exactly the same results.

Wildcards and Truncation Symbols

Wildcard symbols allow for variations in spelling or word endings to be encompassed in a single search command.

• The Asterisk ($*$): This symbol represents zero to multiple characters.

  • Example 1 (Suffix): Searching for $effect*$ will return results for $effect$, $effects$, $effective$, etc.

  • Example 2 (Prefix): Searching for $*oxide$ will return results for $peroxide$, $sulfoxide$, $nitric\,oxide$, and others.

• The Question Mark ($?$): This symbol represents exactly one single character.

  • Example: Searching for $en?oblast$ will find results for both $entoblast$ and $endoblast$.

• *The Dollar Sign ()**: This symbol represents zero or one character, which is particularly useful for variations in spelling or pluralizations involving a single extra letter.\n * Example: Searching for eight$will return results for$eight$,$eighth$, and$eighty.\n\n# Exact Phrase Search vs. General Keyword Search\n\nHow keywords are entered significantly impacts the order and proximity of the words in the search results.\n\n* **Quotes for Exact Phrases**: Using quotation marks, such as "global\,change\,factor", restricts results to entries where those words appear in that exact order. However, this level of precision is typically limited to the **Title** and **Topic** fields.\n* **Keywords without Quotes**: Entering terms without quotation marks, such as global\,change\,factor, will find all entries that contain all those terms, but the terms do not necessarily have to appear in that specific order. \n * Example: This search would successfully find a result like "factor of global change."\n* **Combined Wildcards and Phrases**: Wildcards can be used inside quoted phrases to maintain order while allowing for suffix variations.\n * Example: "drought\,effect\,on\,plant" searches for that exact word sequence while allowing for variations like "drought effects on plants."\n\n# Search Operators and Logic\n\nBoolean operators are used to define the relationship between multiple search terms or groups of terms.\n\n* **AND**: Use this operator to find entries that contain **ALL** of the specified terms separated by the operator. \n* **OR**: Use this operator to find entries that contain **AT LEAST ONE** of the terms separated by the operator, allowing for broader inclusive results.\n* **NOT**: Use this operator to exclude entries that contain specific terms following the operator.\n* **Parentheses (\quad)**: Terms placed inside parentheses are processed first by the search engine. This allows for complex nesting of search logic.\n\n# Comprehensive Example of Operator Usage\n\n* **Logic String**: (cadmium\,AND\,pollinator*)\;NOT\;heteroptera\n* **Evaluation of the Example**: \n * The search engine first looks for entries that contain both the term cadmium$and any word starting with$pollinator$(such as$pollinator$or$pollinators).\n * From that specific set of results, it then excludes any entries that contain the word heteroptera$$.