Keywords: It's how you talk to search boxes...

Whether you are searching in a Library database, Google, or Amazon, there are search boxes all around us, and for the most part, they want our keywords -- those main ideas and concepts -- to effectively retrieve whatever it is we're looking for. Watch this short video on how to brainstorm relevant keywords:

Boolean Operators: AND, OR, and NOT

Once you have identifies relevant keywords, you can apply AND, OR, NOT and other search techniques to better focus your search results. Watch this short video on how to use AND and OR:

Other search techniques:

Phrase Searching using Quotation Marks

Phrase searching narrows your search results to include the exact phrase you are searching for - two or more words in precise order. Phrase searching is also handy when searching on specific titles or quotes especially when searching the open web or when trying to locate a full-text article.

For example:

"physical activity"

"range of motion":

"Wuthering Heights"

"to be or not to be"

Truncation

Truncation will broaden your search and look for variations of a root word. For example:

Searching on stretch* will search for the root word stretch and all extensions of the word including:

• stretches
• stretching

Searching on educat* will search the root educat and all its variants:

• educate
• education
• educator
• educating

Nesting with Parenthesis

Nesting helps you organize your search strategy so the search engine will better understand. For example:

(exercise OR "physical activity") AND ("High blood pressure" OR hypertension)

On the MCC Library's homepage, the One Search tab will use your keywords to search most of the Library's databases at one time:

Watch this short video to learn how to use keywords and limiters to get the best results:

Sometimes it can be useful to search Library databases individually.  They can be accessed by the links under the eResources / Databases tab on the MCC Library's homepage:

• Recommended Databases/eResources: Subset of databases that you can select by subject and type.
• A to Z List of Databases/eResources: Complete list of databases that you can select by subject and type.

Watch this short video that talks about how to select individual databases depending on your topic and assignment:

The Catalog tab on the MCC Library homepage is the most direct route for finding physical books:

Watch this short video on how to search the Catalog effectively to find what you need: