Be sure to use Caps for AND, OR, NOT when searching.
AND - searches for books and articles containing both terms. Example: "book dealers" AND Virginia
OR - searches for one of the words. Example: Williamsburg OR virginia
NOT - exclude a term. Example: (Virginia OR williamsburg) AND "book trade"
Parenthetical notes () - excellent for OR or NOT searches. Like a math equation, the database will do this part first.
Example: (Virginia OR williamsburg) AND "book trade"
Quotation Marks ""- Links words together in the search. Works best for phrases or proper names.
Example: "colonial williamsburg" or "book dealer"
Warning: You might exclude results. A search for "colonial Williamsburg book dealer" will exclude "a Williamsburg book dealer"
Asterisk * - Allows you to search several word endings at once, without using OR.
Example: Virginia* will give you results for Virginia, Virginian, Virginians.
Example: wom* will cover women, woman, womens, womanhood.
Warning: You may get unexpected results. Virginia* will bring up articles on the Virginia opossum. Wom* will include wombat.
Many Databases have extra hidden search commands that only work in their database. These are extremely useful BUT differ between databases, so consult the directions for each database before using them
Please note that many databases works differently, so you need to read the about page. For example: