Library Search Tips
These tips will work in Library Search and in databases! Some of them are even really handy for searching in Google.
Remember to try different combinations of keywords - phrases that describe your topic, different aspects of what you want to investigate, or particular theories or people related to your topic. Not sure what keywords to include? Look at some introductory sources about your topic and continue building your list of keywords as you start researching.
You can also use boolean operators to expand your search:
- "Quotation marks" to search for exact phrases (e.g., "Ain't I a Woman" - without quotation marks, the system will find these words anywhere they appear; with quotation marks, it will only return results where these words appear in that particular order)
- Asterisks (*) to search for multiple forms of the same word (e.g., wom* = women, woman, women's; sex* = sex, sexuality, sexism)
- OR to include multiple possible keywords (e.g., sexuality OR sex OR sexual expression)
- NOT to remove irrelevant or unwanted phrases (e.g., feminism NOT "trans exclusionary")
A tip: It's not important to remember or use these every time. Instead, start with the search that seems most intuitive to you - then see what you notice about your results. Are there too many? Too few? Lots of irrelevant stuff? Or maybe you're noticing other phrases appearing often in results? Think about which strategies will get you closer to the results you want to see - you can always come back here to remind you of those strategies. Finding good sources will often take lot of different tries, even for experienced researchers! Reach out if you need help.
