Create a list of key words from different categories, and try different key words in your searches:
Who, what, where, when....topics, names and places are all good key word categories. You can also use titles, events or historical periods, genres/styles/other categories, expert terms.
Add to your list by reading more about your topic, and by looking for:
Subject terms in OneSearch and other databases.
related terms (literature - books)
synonyms (woman - female)
Smart Searching Tips
To get different results, change your key words:
Try varying your searches, changing the key words you use.
No results? Search more broadly:
Try your search using fewer terms, or change to broader terms: for example, use the term religion (broad), instead of Christianity (more specific).
Too many results? Narrow down by adding something:
When you add more word to your search, use "and" in between:rituals and customs
Use quotation marks to enclose a phrase:
"Greek mythology"
Use the * (asterisk) wildcard:
The asterisk helps you search several versions of one key word:
Greece -- History -- To 146 B.C. Mediterranean Region -- History -- To 476
How To Search
AND, OR, & NOT (also known as "Boolean operators") help you combine search words, to find what you are looking for. Watch this video to find out how it works:
Adapted from the materials created by The University of Auckland Library, NZ. This video is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license.
