Search by Topic means typing some keywords in a search box to retrieve lots of papers on a particular topic.
In Search by Topic, you could perform either one of the following:
View a possible Search Progression.
Use Information Search Process in order to find more information on your topic. It ends once you are satisfied with your results. Familiarize yourself with the following Search Process:
To find more articles, the search methods of "Trace References" and "Search by Topic" can be used interchangeably.
Start with keywords describing concepts. After that, look at the keywords you identified and see if they are sufficient to describe what you want.
For example, I want to look for information on memristor in neural systems.
You could identify keywords from:
Source: Scopus
List them in Keyword Table:
Concept 1 | Concept 2 |
memristor (CT) | neural systems (CT) |
memory resistor (CT) | neural networks (CT) |
memristive | neuromorphic computing (CT) |
memristance | |
memory-based |
** CT = Controlled Term
An example of Thesaurus Search in Engineering Village:
Source: Engineering Village
Select the search engines or databases to search in.
To learn more about the differences between the above four databases, refer to this guide's Tools > Databases.
You may also refer to Engineering Subject Guide for relevant databases in your subject areas.
FindMore is NUS Libraries’ search engine to its collection of books, e-books, e-journals, DVDs, dissertations, research papers and more. It is Google-like in the sense that it searches not just the tags or subject headings but also the full-text. That is why the number of results searches is usually huge.
An example of Topic Search using FindMore via Library Portal:
These are some search techniques you apply in databases:
An example of combination of search statements in Engineering Village:
Source: Engineering Village
Multiple search attempts would be required to retrieve results that you are satisfied with, e.g. I want to find any information on memristor and neural systems in Scopus:
Search Attempt | Search Statement | Explanation |
1 | memristor AND "neural systems" |
1.Initial Search statement combining the keywords with AND operator
2.Use phrase search
|
2 | (memristor OR “memory resistor”) AND (“neural systems” OR “neural networks” OR “neuromorphic computing”) |
1.Add alternative terms and combine them using OR operator. |
3 | (memrist* OR “memory resistor*”) AND (“neural system*” OR “neural network*” OR “neuromorphic comput*”) |
1.Use truncation to broaden search results. |
4 | (memrist* OR (memory W/5 resistor*)) AND ((neural W/5 (system* OR network*)) OR (neuromorphic W/5 comput*)) |
1.Use proximity operator in place of phrase search to broaden search results and maintain relevancy |
Search syntax for the above highlighted search terms in Scopus and Engineering Village:
Scopus | Engineering Village |
"memory resistor*" | "memory resistor" OR "memory resistors" |
memory W/5 resistor* | (memory NEAR/5 resistor) OR (memory NEAR/5 resistors) |
Each database would have its own operators or symbols. Check the online help of each database to find out what the operators and symbols are:
Engineering Village's Help > Quick Search |
Scopus' Help > Search Tips |
Web of Science's Help > Search Tools | IEEE Xplore's Help > Search Tips | |
Boolean Operators | AND OR NOT |
AND |
AND OR NOT |
AND OR NOT |
Truncation | * | * | * | * |
Wildcard |
? |
? |
? $ |
Nil |
Phrase |
" " |
{} for exact phrase " " for loose or approximate phrase |
" " | " " |
Adjacency/ Proximity | NEAR/n |
PRE/n |
NEAR/n | NEAR/n ONEAR/n |
Chemical Substance/ Compound |
{Xx sub 9} e.g. {TiO sub 2} search for TiO2 (titanium dioxide) CAS registration number: search "All fields" in Quick Search e.g. 13463-67-7 for TiO2 |
xx9 e.g. TiO2/tio2 search for TiO2 (titanium dioxide) CAS registration number: search "CAS Number" in Document search e.g. 13463-67-7 for TiO2 |
xx9 e.g. TiO2/tio2 search for TiO2 (titanium dioxide) |
xx9 e.g. TiO2/tio2 search for TiO2 (titanium dioxide) |
Field Search |
Yes |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
Limiters | Access Type Controlled Vocabulary Document Type Database Author Author Affiliation Classification Code Country/Region Language Publication Year |
Open Access |
Publication Year |
Year |
To keep updated on new or the latest published articles, look at Search History to set alerts of RSS/email feeds for the searches that are relevant.
Different databases would have different methods in setting alerts. Check the online help of the database to find out how:
Source: Scopus
Not all databases have the full-text of every document.
You can also get full-text from printed sources, e.g. printed books, journals, etc. These are located in various collections in NUS Libraries, e.g. Bound Journals, Closed Stacks, etc.
More details in Discover > Access.