Library Orientation

With the library catalog, you can search a significant portion of library resources at the same time from a single search box. You can find scholarly articles, books, eBooks, newspaper articles, dissertations and theses, book reviews, and more. Watch the video or read the "Quick Search Tips" below for more detailed instructions on how to get better search results.

Note:
Searches that are not specific enough may bring back too many results.  Use the results menu options to narrow down your results. Also, it doesn't search ALL library databases and electronic resources. Users may miss some good sources if they only use the library catalog. 

Keep it simple! Start by typing the name of a relevant thing, place, or concept:

• [puppy training tips]
• [london dinner cruise]

Add relevant words if you don't see what you want after doing a simple search:

• First try: [puppy]
• More precise: [puppy training]
• Even more precise: [large breed puppy training class]

It may take several attempts to find the right words to describe your topic.

Try other words to describe what you're looking for:

• Not ideal: [my head hurts]
• Not ideal: [why is my head killing me]
• Better: [headache]

Use only the important words. Too many words will limit your results:

• Not ideal: [country where bats are an omen of good luck]
• Better: [bats good luck]

Use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase to narrow results.

• Less precise: [medical error] without quotations retrieves results with those two words anywhere in the document
• More precise: ["medical error"] finds results only for that exact phrase.

Use an asterisk (*) as a truncation symbol to search for all endings to a word. (This works in most databases and in Google.)

• [mexic*] searches for Mexico, Mexican, and Mexicans

Research Guides are developed by librarians to help you identify resources on a particular subject (e.g. Biology) or for a particular course (e.g. ENG 1101). These guides are great for finding a wide variety of resources on a specific subject or for a specific course in a single location. Some subjects or courses may not have a research guide (yet). Use a related guide to find databases that will cover your topic.
 

Research Guides are most useful when:

• Want to save time by utilizing a one-stop source of information for subject-specific or course-specific research
• Need guidance on which databases to use or where to start doing research