Database Features
Field or Free-text searching
Choosing between Field or Free-text searching
Some databases allow you to choose between field or free-text searching. Look carefully at the database search screen to see if this option is provided. Sometimes this choice is provided by drop-down menus.
Field Searching
In some databases the search term is only looked for in specific fields. For example, keyword searches in many databases will locate items with the search term in the title, subject or contents fields.
Free-text searchingIn other databases, the search term is looked for anywhere in a document or record. This is called free-text searching.
Free-text searching often results in false hits (irrelevant items). This is because any item which contains the search term, no matter where it is located (in the author field, title field, abstract, notes, or anywhere in the full text) will be retrieved.
Many search engines on the web, like Google, use free-text searching. Hundreds, even thousands of documents are retrieved, but many are irrelevant.