| Search Tips |
Explanation |
Examples |
| PHRASES |
Multiple words are searched together as
a phrase, in the exact order in which they appear. Phrase searching
is the default. |
"united states supreme court"
"global warming" |
| KEYWORDS |
Use connector and to
search for all the words in any field, in any order. |
welfare and families |
|
Use connector or to
search for either word in any field, in any order. |
plants or vegetation |
|
Use and not to exclude
words. |
mexico and not new mexico |
|
Use parentheses to group words together
when using more than one connector. |
desert and (arizona or sonora) |
| WILDCARD |
Words can be right-hand truncated using
an asterisk * to truncate from 1-5 characters.
(cat* = cat, cats, catalog, etc.) |
child* and diseases |
| Use an asterisk * to
replace a letter in the middle of a word. |
wom*n |
| Use a double asterisk
** for open-ended truncation. |
huck** finn |
| PROXIMITY |
Use near to specify
words close to each other, in any order |
university near arizona |
|
Use within # to specify
words within a specific distance. |
cactus within 3 arizona |
| FIELDS |
Use field abbreviations to specify
search fields.
au: (for
author)
ti: (for title)
su:
(for subjects)
no: (for notes and additional
keywords). |
au:smith and ti:astronomy
au:university of arizona and
su:optics |