Searching for information
Information taken from the Kearns High School Media Center website with permission.
Search Skills
Be specific you do not want 75,231 random hits. You want 75 accurate hits.
Using "quotation marks" keeps words together. If you search for death penalty you will get hits with both words NOT related to each other. For instance you may get a hit for some one who recently died and you may get a hit for a soccer player who got a penalty. Using quotation marks in "death penalty" will look for the two words together.
Using "quotation marks" keeps words together. If you search for death penalty you will get hits with both words NOT related to each other. For instance you may get a hit for some one who recently died and you may get a hit for a soccer player who got a penalty. Using quotation marks in "death penalty" will look for the two words together.
Using Boolean Terms (AND, OR, & NOT) will limit or expand your search. (Boolean terms must be capitalized)
AND narrows the search because it requires both terms to be in each item returned. You mostly do NOT need to use this function as it is built in to most search engines. OR broadens the search because either term (or both) will be in the returned items. (OR gives you more!) NOT narrows your search because it will eliminate any results with the second term. (Montana NOT Hannah will show results for the state, but not Miley Cyrus.) |
More Information about Searching
Basic Search Tips and Advanced Boolean Explained Advanced Boolean Tutorial Boolify |
Looking for information on a specific topic? Try one of the following to locate the information you need.
Utah's Online Library
Utah’s Online Library of electronic resources. It provides statewide access to newspaper articles, magazines, professional journals, encyclopedias, video, photographs, maps, charts, and graphics.
Utah’s Online Library of electronic resources. It provides statewide access to newspaper articles, magazines, professional journals, encyclopedias, video, photographs, maps, charts, and graphics.
Library of Congress
Historical information and images.
Historical information and images.
Internet Public Library
A collection of research resources curated by students and library professionals.
A collection of research resources curated by students and library professionals.