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Tips on Searching

These examples for combining keywords link to the Local Catalog, but you can usually do the following operations in other databases. Other databases may use different symbols - check help screens to be sure.

Phrase search: use quotation marks in the Local Catalog (and in most other databases). For example:
Truncation / multiple wildcard symbol: * in the Local Catalog (and in most other databases). For example:
  • revolution* (Will look for the words revolution, revolutions, revolutionaries, etc.)
Wildcard symbol: ? in the Local Catalog (and in most other databases). For example:
  • wom?n (Will look for woman, women, womyn, etc.)
Combining keywords: In the Local Catalog, the easiest option is to use the pull down menu to combine keywords:

  • AND - results will contain all words in the search box(es) / narrows your search.
  • OR - results will contain at least one of the keywords typed in the search box / broadens your search.
  • NOT - results will exclude a keyword. Use carefully or you will accidentally eliminate useful information just because it happens to mention the word you have after "NOT" / narrows your search.

Link to Tips on Developing a List of Keywords

See this page for tips on developing a list of keywords.