Boolean Searching
For better search results, try using Boolean operators:
AND connects terms and narrows the search
Example: "affordable care act" AND politics
OR expands the search (finds either term)
Example: "affordable care act" OR obamacare
NOT use to exclude terms
Example: "health care reform" NOT medicaid
Keyword Selection is Important when Searching Library Databases
Tip on Using Keywords for Your Search
Start searching and modify your keywords as necessary.
- Pay attention to titles, abstracts, and headings used in the results you find helpful.
- Some databases provide lists of subject terms, subject headings, or keywords for individual sources.
See if you can find those to help add to your own list.
Tip: Keep in mind that keywords are tricky, they will evolve and you'll likely come across better ones as
you begin searching. The more you search and learn about your topic, the easier it will be to develop keywords.
Advanced Search Techniques
Try these advanced search techniques for better results.
Use quotation marks to search for a phrase
["Civil war"] will bring back only results that have the word civil next to the word war. This way you won't get results about civil disputes or the War on Terror.
Add an * at the end of a word to search for all possible endings/suffixes
[teen*] will search for teen, teens, teenager, teenagers
Use Boolean operators AND or OR
[Chicken AND beef] will search for results that have both chicken and beef in them, resulting in fewer matches
[Chicken OR beef] will search for results that have either chicken or beef, resulting in more matches
Tip: If you have any questions about using these advanced search techniques, contact a librarian.
Tips on Refining Your One Search
PRACTICE - Use OneSearch to locate the following: 1. a book, 2. an ebook, 3. a scholarly journal article on your topic.
Search all library resources on your topic for articles, books, videos, and more that are available in OneSearch.
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