Do you have any tips on how to search?

General Search Tips that Work in Most Searches

  • Quotation marks search for an exact phrase. This is useful is you need to find a specific phrase, like "medical error."
  • An asterisk (*) searches for all endings to a word at the same time. For example, educat*, searches for education, educator, educated, and educational.

Web Search Tips

  • Keep it simple! Start by typing the name of a thing, place, or concept that you are looking for.

London and transportation
"ocean pollution"

  • Use scholarly words without jargon or abbreviations to describe what you are looking for.

"User experience", not UX
"Motion pictures" or cinema, not movies

  • Use only the keywords rather than your research question.

Research question: Why are bats considered bad luck?
Keywords: bats AND "bad luck"

Database Search Tips

Too many results:

  • Use one or two keywords, then add additional terms if you need to narrow down your results;
  • Use limiters, such as date and resource type, to focus your results list;
  • If your topic is too broad, then think about the various aspects of your topic and search for them separately.

Too few results:

  • You can use OR between synonyms; for example, salary OR pay OR compensation;
  • If you use AND to combine terms, each additional keyword in your search will retrieve fewer results;
  • Use keywords about the broader theme of your topic, such as plastics AND pollution instead of BPA-free plastic.

Library Catalog Search Tips

  • Limit by format to the type of content that you are interested in, like print books, eBooks, or videos;
  • Extend your search to Libraries Worldwide if you are not finding what you need in our library.