What are some tips to help me with research?

Quick tips on keywords, Boolean, phrases, truncation search techniques


Answer

Search Tips


Here are common research tips that make it easier to locate what you're looking for!

  • Search topic words - not sentences
  • Use industry or academic words: children vs. kid
  • Try an advanced search with Boolean:
    • AND  (Results contain all search terms)
    • OR   (Include synonyms or similar topic terms)
    • NOT  (Exclude topics from your search)
  • Use quotation marks for phrases, such as: "service dog" or "post traumatic stress disorder"
  • Use an asterisk to search variations of word endings:

Vaccin* will search for vaccine(s), vaccinated, & vaccination

 

Here are a few examples:

Weather AND Wisconsin

“Myocardial infarction” OR “heart attack”

Olympics NOT medals

 

The library staff is happy to help if you would like assistance!

 

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  • Last Updated Jun 15, 2026
  • Views 38
  • Answered By Katie

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