Hospitality, Tourism and Events Management Research Guide: Articles/Databases

If you're off-campus and not logged in to the LaGuardia Library website, you will see a login box to complete before you can access these databases.

If you're off-campus and not logged in to the LaGuardia Library website, you will see a login box to complete before you can access these databases.

BOOLEAN SEARCHING

Boolean operators form the basis of database logic.

• They connect your search words together to either narrow or broaden your set of results.
• The three basic boolean operators are: AND, OR, and NOT.

Why use Boolean operators?

• To focus a search, particularly when your topic contains multiple search terms.
• To connect various pieces of information to find exactly what you're looking for.
• Example:  hotels AND guests

Use AND in a search to:

• narrow your results
• tell the database that ALL search terms must be present in the results
• example: tours AND families AND Europe

The red triangle in the middle of the diagram below represents the result set for this search. It's the set of results containing all three search words.

Use OR in a search to:

• connect two or more similar concepts (synonyms)
• broaden your results, telling the database that ANY of your search terms can be present in the resulting records
• example: hotels OR motels OR resorts

All three circles represent the result set for this search. It is a bigger set of results because any of those words fulfill the search criteria when using the OR operator.

1. Identify the key concepts and terms related to your topic. You may have more than one; for example, in a paper on the effect of COVID-19 on hotel business in the United States. For each concept, determine appropriate words or phrases, including synonyms, broader terms, related terms and narrower terms. For example, the term coronavirus is often used as a synonym for COVID-19. And you might be interested in other forms of lodging in addition to hotels, such as motels or resorts. And the terms U.S. and American also refer to the United States.
2. Choose an appropriate database. The LaGuardia Library lists its databases by topic on the Databases by Subject page. For research in the Hospitality Industry, look especially at databases under Travel, Tourism & Hospitality and Business. There are brief descriptions of each database on the subject category pages to help you choose. If you're unsure, consult with a reference librarian. There's a lot of specialized business information in our databases, and it's not always obvious where to find it.
3. Search using your keywords. If you get too many results, use database filters to narrow down your results by things like date, whether it's peer-reviewed or not, type of resource, and other aspects. 
4. Combine search terms. To do this, you'll need to use what are called Boolean connectors AND & OR. This is best done using the database's advanced search mode. Learn more about this type of search.
5. Search various forms of a word at the same time by using an asterisk *. For example, searching tour* will find articles containing the words tour, tours, tourist, or tourism.
6. Put "quotation marks" around phrases. For example, "flight attendant" or "front desk".

To find an article from a citation:

1. Go to our Journal Title Search web page
2. Enter the journal title in the search box. This will give you a list of titles that match your search
3. Click on the link for the journal you want, making sure it covers the year the article was published.
4. Once you get to the database, choose the "search within journal option" and add keywords from the article title.