Next, find information about your topic. What types of sources will be good for your topic, books, audio, journals, magazines, websites? What search tools can help you locate them, the library library catalog, journal databases, web search engines? Depending on what you find, you might need to revise your topic or search strategy. If you are having trouble finding information on your topic, always feel free to ask a librarian.
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Capitalize your connectors AND/OR
1. Phrase Search-keep a phrase together so it will not get separated and lose intended meaning
Example
"yellowstone park"
"sandy hook"
2. Truncations - to search words of various endings
Example
comput* -computer, computers, computerize computerized, computerinzing, computational, computation
wom?n - woman or women
girl*-girl, girls, girlish
3. Boolean Operators - use AND/ OR/ NOT to connect your keywords - Boolean Machine.
Example- AND
california AND parks
"yellowstone park" AND "wild life"
Example- OR
women OR girl* OR female*
research OR survey or case stud*
Example- NOT (AND NOT)
yellowstone NOT park
clinton AND NOT hillary
4. Use parenthesis and quotation marks for logical execution of search terms
"sex* harassment" AND ("work place" OR office)
Example of a One Search
1. Use Advanced search interface
2. Search by keyword and limit search in Subject or Abstract field
3. Use keywords describing one concept in each search box, connect synonyms with connector OR (capitalized)
4. Limit to Online Access & In Library for full text items (books or articles)
5. Limit by the Publication Date range
Example of One Search:
Does video games help or harm teenagers in learning?
("video game*" OR "online game*" OR "digital game*")
AND (teen* OR youth* OR adolescent*)
AND (learn* OR academic performance)
AND assess*
A Sample Record in the search results.
Note the Permalink URL, email the citation of the article to yourself, and use Get it @ Rider to access full text article in another database or from an open source journal on the Web.
Tutorial on How to Search Online Catalog
Sample book search on "how abused women survive?"
1. At the Advanced Search box, enter cell* phone OR mobile phone, Limit to Subject
2. Under Location > Moore Stacks (shelves)
3. Use the book call number to find books on the shelves.
Search Tips for OneSearch Advanced page :
For New Jersey or state information, search Access World News, use Map Search to limit to state news resources.
Your Topics:
1. Arson, arsonists, pyromania
arson* AND ("mental illness" OR "mental disorder")
2. The triangle trade.
"triangle trade" [limit keyword in Abstract]
3. Orphanages.
orphan* AND "child abuse" AND development
4. Typhus.
typhus AND children
5. Tuberculosis.
tuberculosis AND risk* AND vaccine*
6. Bankruptcy.
bankruptcy AND law AND debt* AND pay*
7. Importation of exotic birds/
"exotic bird*" AND import*
8. 19th century treatment of mental illness.
"19th century" AND ("mental illness" OR mental health OR madness) AND (treat* OR medicine)
9. Mental illness and genetics.
"mental illness" AND genetics AND treatment
10. 19th century missionaries in India.
"19th century" AND missionar* AND India
11. 19th century education for the rich.
19th century AND (education OR school*) AND (rich OR wealthy)
12. 19th century education for the poor.
19th century AND (education OR school*) AND (poor OR poverty)
13. Women and inheritance.
women AND inheritance AND right*
14. Gambling addictions.
treatment AND gambling AND addiction*
15. Changing views on what constitutes child abuse.
"child abuse" AND trend*
16. Gypsies.
Gypsies AND Europe
17. Jamaican slave rebellion
Jamaica AND slave* AND rebellion
18. Poverty and illness or pandemics
poverty AND pandemic*
19. Malnutrition and poverty
Malnutrition AND poverty
20. Filming the classics. Choose either Jane Eyre or The Turn of the Screw) and examine both critical and popular reaction to movies made during different periods. (There have been at least 16 made of the former and more than 8 of the latter.)
(critic* OR reaction* OR feedback) AND ("jane eyre" OR "turn of the screw")
21. 19th century belief in the supernatural.
"19th century" AND supernatural*
22. Does literature influence behavior?
What do you expect to find? what literature? what behavior?