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Useful tips for searching in the library databases
- Surround the name of he person you choose to research in quotation marks. The same holds true for phrases. (i.e. "Shirley Chisholm") or ("gun control")
- Limit to Default, All Text, Title, or Subject Term from the search fields.
- Using the Subject Terms will help you to find more relevant results.
- Searching in All Text will retrieve more articles, but probably more of them will be irrelevant.
- Searching in the Title will bring you fewer documents, but they're more likely to be relevant.
- Consider synonyms or words that mean the same thing when applicable (i.e. teenager, adolescent or "young adult")
- Use a (And/Or) to narrow and expand your search. Begin with a broad search then narrow your search by combining subject terms with keyword searching.