Guides: POLIS 121: Introduction to Politics & International Studies: Search Tips

Searching for Resources

In our library catalogue, type your topic, e.g.

Select a relevant book in your results list, and then look in the Description for accurate subject headings (under Subjects). Once you know the subject headings for your topic, do a subject (su:) search. Use the filters on the left side of the catalogue screen to limit your results to e-books, print books, publication year, etc.

You could also try an Advanced Search:

AND finds results with BOTH terms
OR finds results with EITHER terrm
Canad* finds any ending, e.g. Canada, Canadian
Quotation marks will search for an exact phrase , e.g., "indians of north america"

For more help on searching, go to our library website.

From the library Databases page, go to EBSCOhost and then select EBSCOhost Web. Then choose your database(s). and create a search similar to the example below. Finally, you may limit your results by using the filters on the left-hand side of the screen, e.g., recently published (in the past 5 years), full text articles in peer reviewed journals.

AND finds results with BOTH terms
OR finds results with EITHER terrms
Canad* finds any ending, e.g. Canada, Canadian

For more help with EBSCOhost databases, go to the library website and look under the Databases tab.

From the library Databases page, go to JSTOR, select Advanced Search and then and try a search like this. By placing quotation marks around a phrase, JSTOR will search this exact phrase only, bringing up more accurate results. You may also limit your results by item type, language and discipline.

For additional help with JSTOR, look under the Databases tab on the library website.