Be sure to use Caps for AND, OR, NOT when searching.
AND - searches for books and articles containing both terms. Example: abolition AND slavery
OR - searches for one of the words. Example: atlantic OR transatlantic
NOT - exclude a term. Example: NOT sermons
Parenthetical notes () - excellent for OR or NOT searches. Like a math equation, the database will do this part first.
Example: ("Middle Passage" OR "triangle trade") AND "abolition" = search for abolition of the middle passage and abolition of the triangle trade
Quotation Marks ""- Links words together in the search. Works best for phrases or proper names.
Example: "Middle Passage"
Example: "Social Death"
Warning: You might exclude results. A search for "British America" will exclude all results for "British North America"
Asterisk * - Allows you to search several word endings at once, without using OR repeatedly.
Example: Africa* will cover Africa, African, Africans, Africana
Example: Brit* will cover Brit, Brits, British, Britain, Britannia
Example: abolition* will also cover abolitionists.
Warning: You may get unexpected results. Brit* will also yield Brittany, Britons, and Britches. Slav* will bring up Slavic. Virginia* will bring up articles on the Didelphis virginiana (Virginia opossum)