Keyword Searching
Our catalog uses Keyword searching (unless you have selected the Browse Search).
Keyword Searching definitely has some benefits, but you have to know a few rules.
- Unless you are searching for a phrase, place the word "and" in between your search terms (ex. grisham and associate ). (NOTE: "And" is a boolean operator. Click here for more detailed information on other boolean operators that may help out with your search.)
- If you are uncertain of the exact spelling of a word, you can use wildcard or truncation. A question mark "?" is a wildcard that can be used to replace any character (ex. wom?n searches for woman or women) .
- A dollar sign "$" is used to truncate words and can be used to replace any number of characters. (ex. nurs$ and exam$ retrieves records with all forms of the word nurse (nurse, nurses, nursing, etc.) and exam (exam, exams, examination, etc.)
- Your initial search results will show the title, author, and publication year. However, since the General Keyword searches all fields in a record, it is possible that you will not see your search terms in the title or author field. You can click on the title to see more detailed information about a specific result. If you would like for your terms to appear in the author or title field, then you can limit your keyword search to a certain index. Click here for further information on limiting your keyword search to an author, title, subject, etc.