Skip to Main Content

ENGL 1101 - B. Moody - Spring 2024: Library and Web Search Tips

Search for Scholarly and Popular Information

Often, you will have to search the digital library for scholarly sources. Nonetheless, library and database search interfaces do not understand natural language.

For instance, if your research question is: 

What role did religion play in the Salem Witch Trials? 

Your keywords would be: 

Religion

Salem Witch Trials

To connect them in a library search, you would use the following search string: 

Religion AND "Salem Witch Trials"

Discover

Search the Library...

Discover    GIL-Find (Catalog)    Database Title List    Journal Title List

Utilize Internet/Database Search Techniques

Discover Search Tips:

  • Use quotation marks when you are searching for an exact phrase
    • "Climate Justice"
    • "Southeast Georgia"
  • Use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, & NOT) to expand or narrow your searches
    • AND: more specific searches
    • OR: expands searches
    • NOT excludes a term or phrase
      • "Climate Justice" AND "Southeast Georgia" NOT "Tybee Island"
        • Excludes sources that contain the phrase "Tybee Island" from the search
  • Use filters to refine your searches
    • Date
    • Subject
    • Others
  • Use proximity search options
    • "Coastal Georgia" n3 "Climate Justice"
      • Searches for coastal Georgia within three words of climate justice

Search Engine Search Tips

  • Use quotation marks when you are searching for an exact phrase (just like Discover)
  • Type keywords, not phrases, into the search bar -- search engines don't work well with exact questions (just like Discover)
  • Use top-level domain limiters
    • site:.edu
    • site:.gov
    • site:.org
  • Comb an entire website
    • site:nytimes.com
      • Searches only the NY Times
  • Search for a specific word in a web page's title:
    • "Climate change" intitle:Georgia"Climate"
  • Search for a specific word in a web page's title
    • "Climate Change" intitle:Florida site
    • Searches for web pages that mention climate change with the word Florida in the title
  • Combine various web-searching strategies
    • "climate change" intitle:Florida site:nytimes.com
      • Searches for instances of Florida in the title of web pages from the NY Times that mention climate change

 

 

 

Boolean Operators: AND, OR, and NOT

Searching Your Digital Library

What Does That Search String Do?

Discover Search Strings

  • "Supreme Court" n5 "legal history"
  • "Supreme Court" AND "legal history" NOT "Bill Clinton"

Search Engine Strings

  • "Las Vegas" geology site:.edu
  • "Miami" "Climate change" site:npr.org
  • intitle:Miami "climate justice" site:.gov