Database searching is NOT like Google! Most do not support natural language searching. You have to be precise in the words that you select.
Join concepts together using AND and OR.
Use AND when the concepts are not related such as globalization AND development. This
narrows the search as both of those words must be in the information that is being
Use OR when the concepts are similar, and it does not matter which word is
found in the information that is being returned. For instance, climate OR environment. This broadens the search.
Use truncation when you want to allow for several spellings or variations on a
word. For instance, Canad* can stand for Canada, Canadian, Canadians...
Tip: If you wish to replace exactly 1 letter, use ? (question mark) rather than * (asterisk). Example: wom?n
Tip: Most complex search strings are evaluated left to right. To make sure that you are grouping concepts together correctly, use parentheses. For instance, Canad* AND (climate OR environment) AND (globaliz* OR devel*)
Key phrases are groups of words that always appear together. Although some databases will evaluate them as one unit, not all do (for instance, the catalogue will perform an AND keyword search). There is a difference between results where the words occur together in a record and where the words appear in an unspecified location throughout the record: it is much more likely that your results will be about your topic if they appear together as a phrase.
Tip: To be sure that your words are evaluated as a key phrase, enclose them in double quotation marks. For instance: "economic development".
Want more information and options? Check out the help pages in the databases and in the catalogue!