Basic Search Tips

The Search box is located at the top center of each page just below the database title.

To Search:

• Enter a search term in the Search box.
• Click the magnifying glass button to the right of the Search box or press Enter on your keyboard.

You can search using keywords or a specific phrase. Capitalization does not matter.

Results are sorted into tabs. The tabs differ by database.

• Histories and World Religion: Articles, Primary Sources, Images, Videos, Timelines and News
• Health: Articles, Images, Videos, and News
• Science: Articles, Experiments, Images & Diagrams, Videos, Timelines and News
• Issues and Controversies: Articles, Primary Sources, Court Cases, Media, Infographics, Editorials, and News
• Bloom's Literature: Reference, Criticism, Literary Works, Images, Videos and Timelines

Search results are returned sorted by relevance for Articles, Primary Sources, Experiments, Images, Diagram and Videos. News results are returned in chronological order, with the most recent articles listed first.

Boolean Operators

Your database supports boolean searching.

Boolean operators—AND, OR, NOT—can be added to search terms to refine results. The operator should be in capital letters. If no operator is added, the AND operator is used automatically.

1. Enter a search term. Examples:
   1. boxer AND rebellion
   2. boxer OR rebellion
   3. boxer NOT rebellion
2. Results include:
   1. all articles with all of the search terms, boxer as well as rebellion
   2. all articles with either of the search terms, boxer or rebellion or both
   3. only articles without the excluded search term, articles with boxer that do not include rebellion

Phrase Search

Use double quotation marks to define an exact phrase or phrases. (If copying and pasting a phrase from a document, make sure the quotation marks are straight, not curly.)

1. Examples:
   1. "White House"
   2. "White House" AND "garden"
   3. "White House" AND "George Washington"
2. Results include:
   1. articles with White House together as a phrase but not a story with, for example, the phrases "white mountains" and "House of Representatives"
   2. articles with White House as a phrase that also contain garden
   3. articles with White House as a phrase that also contain George Washington as a phrase