Skip to Main Content
Mississippi State University

Library update: Recent database changes

Learn more

Agricultural Science and Plant Protection

Developing Effective Searches

Boolean Searching
This ... Finds records with ...
otters AND diet both terms
otters OR beavers either term
diet* diet, diets, dietary, etc.
"river otter" the words together
pigs NOT guinea the 1st term but not the 2nd (use sparingly)

These can be combined in search boxes as follows:

  "north american river otter*" OR "Lontra canadensis"
AND diet* OR nutrition*

Other tips:

  • Limit results by year of publication.
  • Sort by relevance (default in most databases, but not in Scopus).
  • In the results list, look for subject terms of keywords that can help you fine-tune your search.

Keep up with what's being published on a topic with search alerts!

If you are working on a large research project, search alerts can notify you when new articles about your research topic are added to a database.

Search Alerts in Scopus

The following steps show how to set up email alerts in the Scopus database. Most other databases also allow you to set up alerts.  

  1. Set up a Scopus profile by clicking on Register at the top right.
  2. Enter the required information. (You should not use your MSU ID and Password for this.)
  3. Perform your search.
  4. Click on the Set Alert link, located above the Document Results box.
  5. Click on Create.

Search Alerts in EBSCO Databases

The MSU Libraries subscribes to many databases from the EBSCO company, including Academic Search Premier, Business Source Complete, Environment Complete, ERIC, and more. The following are the steps for setting up a search alert in any EBSCO database.

  1. Perform your search.
  2. At the top of the page, click on the three dots next to Relevance (shown below)
  3. The Create Alert button will then appear.
  4. You will be taken to the MSU login screen (cas.its.msstate.edu)
  5. Log in with your MSU Net ID and Net Password.

Table of Contents Alerts

For immediate notification when new issues of your favorite journals become available, set up Table of Contents Alerts.

  1. Go to the publishers website.
  2. Find the homepage of the journal.
  3. Look for the link to sign up for Table of Contents Alerts.