Orientation Handouts

Search Tips

Sample Searches

Keyword search using terms or phrases:      Sierra Leone civil war

                                                                                    green vehicles

Exact phrase searching:                                 “colony collapse disorder”

The “ “ means the exact phrase inside the quotation marks is used for searching

Truncation:                                                     environ*

Returns results about ‘environment’, ‘environmental’, and ‘environmentalists’

Synonyms:                                                      low income

                                                                        poor

                                                                        working class

                        Think about search terms that mean the same thing or are related to your topic

Broader / narrower:

undergraduate

university student (broader term)

freshman (narrower term)

                        If you find too much or too little in your search, think of ways to broaden or narrow your search terms

Advanced Search

It is a good idea to try out a few different databases or search engines when looking for information on a topic.  Also, you can use the Advanced Search option of a search engine or library catalog to limit or expand your search by options such as Boolean logic (AND, OR, NOT) , language, location, title, domain, country, when the page was last modified, and material type. Look for “search tips” or “Help” if you’re unsure of protocols.

    Much of the content for the handouts that we give students during library orientations has been pretty much standardized by the CSM librarians, but I recently developed a 'search tips' section that I'm particularly proud of (see right sidebar).

    In particular, I've noticed through observation in my reference interactions that students often have a difficult time with scope -- that is, identifying what is an appropriate size of topic to research.  As a result, for the research-assignment-driven orientations, I have started to emphasize more and more ways of broadening and narrowing topics.  I decided it would be a good idea to put it in print, into the library's handout, so that students have a tangible takeaway that they can refer to while searching for sources for their research project.