AND: use to combine different concepts or keywords; each result will contain all search terms
Example: accessibility AND education
OR: use to connect similar concepts or keywords; each result will contain at least one of the search terms
Example: teach OR educate
Quotation Marks " ": place around phrases to search for words in that exact order or with that exact spelling
Example: "employee morale"
Parentheses ( ): place around related terms to search for more than one group of keywords
Example: (teach OR educate) AND accessibility
Asterisk *: use at the end of a keyword to search words that start with the same letters
Example: libraries AND (teach* OR educat*)
Video used with permission from NCSU under Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA US license
Before you can begin searching for information in a print or online resource, you need to identify keywords related to your topic. Key terminology can be found easily by scanning:
If you are still struggling, then try these suggestions: