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You can use other techniques to further refine and limit searches.

Phrase Searching:

Use quotation marks (" ") or select "as a phrase" in a pull-down menu

Examples:

  • "acid rain"
  • "Martin Luther King, Jr."
Nesting:

Use parentheses ( ) to nest search terms.

Example: (bay OR harbor) AND pollution

Truncation

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Use a symbol to search word variants.

Truncation symbols vary from database to database - The question mark (?) is used in the UA Libraries' Catalog; the asterisk (*) is used in many databases.

Examples:

  • pollut? = pollution, pollutant, pollutants, polluting
  • environ* = environment, environmental, environmentally
Limiters

Many databases give you options to limit search results by type of publication, date, language, etc.

   
 
     
 

©2006 - University Libraries , The University of Alabama
adapted with permission from
Healey Library , University of Massachusetts, Boston
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