Searching effectively
If you want to more effectively conduct searches and find relevant literature on your topic, consider using a few simple search techniques. MY NUMBER 1 SEARCH TIP IS TO SEARCH, SEARCH, AND SEARCH AGAIN! If the first search you try doesn't provide the results you need, just try again with a different search. It doesn't cost you anything but a little time and thought.
- Phrasal Searching -- You can search for an exact phrase, which will yield more precise results, by enclosing your search terms in quotation marks. For instance if you search for "la casa de bernarda alba" (capitalization does not affect searches), you will find only results that have that exact phrase and not just results where those words all happen to show up together.
- The OR search operator -- Any time you can think of a synonym for a search term, you can use the OR operator in your search to find both your original search term and any synonyms. For instance you might search for hispanic literature OR spanish literature.
- Truncation -- You can truncate a search term to retrieve results with variations on the truncated term. Add an asterisk (*) to the end of the search term you want to truncate. For example, you can truncate the term feminism to feminis* to get feminist, feminists, and feminism.
