Section 3: Search Strategies

Now that you know what information you need, this section of the tutorial will teach you how to search for and locate that information.

This section is divided into three subsections:

1. Known item search strategies
2. Topic search strategies
3. Searching in Databases

At the end of this section you will be able to:

• Search by title
• Search by author
• Construct an effective and efficient search on a topic
• Limit the results of your search to better match your research needs
• Search for books on a topic
• Search for articles on a topic
• Read a book citation
• Read an article citation
• Know how to get an article you want
• Know how to get a book you want

Section 3 Contents

1. Search strategies
   1. Characteristics of a Known Item
   2. Searching the Musselman Library Catalog
   3. Searching Results Page
   4. Item Records
   5. Searching by Title
   6. Searching by Author
   7. Uniform Names
2. Topic search strategies
   1. Keyword Searches
   2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Keyword Searching
   3. Subject Searches
   4. Advantages and Disadvantages of Subject Searching
   5. When to Use Subject Search
   6. Uniform Name in Subject Searching
   7. Complex Search Topics
   8. Boolean Operators
   9. Identifying Components of a Complex Topic
   10. Revising a Search
   11. Truncation
   12. Quiz: Boolean Operators
   13. Quiz: Revising a Search
3. Searching in Databases
   1. Search Fields
   2. Database results
   3. Obtaining an article