General:

• Look for search options and hints near the search box.
• Look at pull-down menus to see what options are available for searching.
• Authors are entered last name and then first name

Typing:

• Capitalization is not necessary.
• Omit the initial articles (a, an, the) when searching for English language items.
• When looking for foreign language materials, try searching with and without initial articles.

Punctuation:

• Ampersands (&) may be searched as & or the word AND.
• Apostrophes are ignored.
  - Example: o'malley or omalley
• All other punctuation marks are treated as SPACES.
  - Example: u.s. or u s

Searching one word titles:

• Type a vertical bar at the end of a title.
  - Example: Science|

Finding related material:

• When you have found an item that's right on target, select other material indexed under the author's name, the same title, or the same subject heading as the item you're examining.
• Look at a relevant item and examine the words in the title and subjects. Do a WORD search using the best or most significant word(s).

Unsure of an exact title, author's name, or subject heading?

• Try a WORD search using the key words you know.
  - Example: catcher rye (retrieves The Catcher in the Rye)