Which strategies can I employ to improve my searches?

Answer

Search Tips

Wildcards 

Words may be right-hand truncated using an asterisk ('*') in place of other characters. The '*' wildcard may also be embedded in a search string. You may use '?' to replace a single character anywhere within a word. 
Examples: environment* polic*, wom?n 

Boolean Operators 

Use "and" or "or" to specify multiple words in any field, any order. Use "and not" to exclude words. 
Example: stocks and bonds 
Example: (alaska or canada) and (adventure and not vacation) 

Field limits 

A field limit causes the system to search only the specified field for the specified word(s). 

 

Multiple words searching 

When searching multiple words, the system will automatically supply the Boolean "and"  operator between each word; multiple words entered for the search will all occur somewhere in  the retrieved records though not necessarily in the order entered. Both examples on the right  will retrieve the same results. 

Using multiple words: 

university science department=university and science and department 

 

Phrase searching 

Search for complete phrases by enclosing them in quotation marks. Words enclosed in double  quotes will appear together in all results exactly as typed. 

A phrase Search: 
"university science department" 

  • Last Updated Mar 17, 2022
  • Views 11
  • Librarian Lebogang Gopolang

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