Search Tips

Boolean searching

AND
Each result contains all search terms

i.e. heart AND lung finds items that contain both heart and lung

OR
Each result contains at least one search term.

i.e. heart OR lung finds either items that contain heart or items that contain lung.

NOT
Results do not contain the specified terms.

i.e. heart NOT lung finds items that contain heart but do not contain lung.

Phrase searching

Use quotation marks to search for words as a phrase.

i.e. "climate change"

"human resource management"

Wildcards

Question mark (?)
Use to replace one character within a word.

i.e. ne?t will find all records containing neat, nest or next.

Hash (#)
Use to find alternate spelling.

i.e. colo#r will find all records containing color or colour.

Asterisk (*)
Use to find alternate word endings.

i.e. comput* will find the words computer or computing.

The asterisk (*) may also be used between words to match any word. For example, 'a midsummer * dream' will return results that contain the exact phrase, 'a midsummer night’s dream.'

Proximity searching

Use a proximity search to search for two or more words that occur within a specified number of words (or fewer) of each other.

Near (N) - N5 finds the words if they are within five words of one another regardless of the order in which they appear.

i.e. tax N5 reform will find results that would match tax reform as well as reform of income tax.

Within (W) - W8 finds the words if they are within eight words of one another and in the order in which you entered them.

i.e. tax W8 reform will find results that would match tax reform but would not match reform of income tax.