Keywords: Identify the most important words in your research question and use those for searching. Cut out extra words like: the, and, or.
Boolean Operators: Try different combinations of search terms, and use Boolean operators:
AND – to narrow your search: caribou AND wolves
OR – to broaden your search: caribou OR reindeer
NOT – to narrow your search: reindeer NOT Santa
Limiters: Limit by date, geography, or by type of publication (academic/scholarly journal, general interest magazine). This allows you to find more specific information that is related to your search.
Phrase searching: Try phrase searching – use double quotation marks around two words that you want to use together, for example: “water quality”. This way you won't get results that have only "water" or only "quality".
Boolean Search Terms
Scroll through this clickable slide show for a quick and easy guide to Boolean search terms.
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