Library Catalog Search Tips

Simple Searching:

Keyword search tips:

• enter words and/or phrases above
• use quotes to search phrases: "world wide web"
• use + to mark essential terms: university college +education +statistics
• use ? to truncate: typing teen? brings up teen, teens, teenager, teenagers, etc., and wom?n finds woman and women
• use ! to eliminate terms: +pollution +air !sound !noise
• do not use AND, OR, or NOT. Use + and - signs instead

Author, Title, Journal Title, and Subject search tips:

• the system automatically truncates on the right, e.g. typing the word teen brings up teen, teens, teenager, etc.
• searching by author: enter the last name first
• searching by title or journal title: enter as much of the title as you know, omitting initial articles (a, the, la, los)
• searching by subject: enter a subject heading, omitting all punctuation, e.g. environmental degradation

Boolean search tips:

• use and, or, not to combine search terms
• use quotes to search phrases, e.g. to search for the phrase educational technology type "educational technology" (using quotation marks)
• use opening and closing parentheses to group search terms, e.g. (guns or firearms) and schools
• use ? to truncate, e.g. teen? finds teen, teens, teenager, etc.

Call number search tips:

• enter as much of the call number as you know, ignoring spaces

Advanced Search Tips:

• enter search terms in box
• use drop-down menus to define scope of terms
• choose a field (keyword anywhere, title, author, subject, etc.)
• to combine sets, choose from drop-down menu (AND, OR, NOT)

Murphy Library
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
1725 State St., La Crosse, WI 54601, USA
(608) 785-8505