Be sure to use Caps for AND, OR, NOT when searching.
AND - searches for books and articles containing both terms. Example: "North Dakota" AND "energy policy"
OR - searches for one of the words. Example: "north dakota" OR "bakken oil fields"
NOT - exclude a term. Example: NOT "south dakota"
Parenthetical notes () - excellent for OR or NOT searches. Like a math equation, the database will do this part first.
Example: ("energy policy"OR "oil production") AND "north dakota"
Example: ("north dakota" NOT "south dakota") AND "energy policy"
Quotation Marks ""- Links words together in the search. Works best for phrases or proper names.
Example: "north dakota"
Example: "climate change"
Warning: You might exclude results. A search for "politics of climate change" will exclude any instance where just "Climate change" comes up.
Asterisk * - Allows you to search several word endings at once, without using OR.
Example: Virginia* will give you results for Virginia, Virginian, Virginians.
Example: polic* will give you policy or policies or policymakers
Warning: You may get unexpected results. polic* will also bring up police, policing, policemen, policosanol (A chemical for leg pain)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
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: