Catalog Search Tips
To locate books for which the primary topic matches your research interest, try searching by subject headings. This not only helps zero in on likely matches but also retrieves relevant sub-headings and related terms.
If your search topic may constitute only a small portion of a book or if you are unsure of what a suitable subject heading term is, search by one or more keywords.
The following demonstrate the different results that a search term will retrieve in the Catalog using different types of searches. Thorough searching may require combining different types of searches - title, subject, keyword.
Keyword Searching in Catalogs and Databases
Using AND/OR/NOT (Boolean Search Operators) |
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Use AND to narrow your search and combine different facets of your topic. Example: malaria AND children |
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Use OR to expand your search and find synonyms/related terms. Example: entrepreneurship OR small business |
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Use NOT to exclude a word or phrase from your search Example: economic growth AND china NOT india |
Additional Search Tips
- "Phrase search" - Use quotation marks " " to search for a particular phrase.
Example: "Latin America" - Truncation * - Use an asterisk to find variations of a word. Put an asterisk after the root of the word to find all variations of that word, including singular and plural.
Example: health* (finds healthy, healthful, healthiness, etc.) - (Grouping/Nesting Keywords) - Use parentheses ( ) as a way to organize and group your search terms in a way that works with Boolean operators.
Example: (climate change or global warming) and (population growth or urbanization).
See the Basic Search Tips guides for more information, including examples. Or use the Search Strategy Worksheet (in box at left) to get started.
