COLS 1000: Food for Thought
Search Tips
Use these search tips in any catalog or database.
Using AND
Use AND in your search to:
- Narrow down your results
- Find sources that have ALL of your search terms
Example: food insecurity AND developing countries
Using OR
Use OR in your search to:
- Connect 2 or more similar terms (synonyms)
- Broaden your results (so that your results have either term)
Example: policy OR legislation
Quick Tricks
* Add an asterisk onto the root of a word to find results that use all variations of that word.
Example: label* = label, labels, labeling
"..." Place quotation marks around search terms or a search phrase to search for that EXACT phrase.
Example: "slow food movement" or "genetically modified foods"
(...) Use parentheses to nest similar terms or to ensure the database will search your terms in the correct order.
Example: "genetically modified foods" AND (policy OR legislation)
Using NOT
Use NOT in your search to:
- exclude a word from your search
- Narrow down your results, telling the system not to include any results with that term
Example: "food insecurity" NOT "food desert"