Keyword search

Search engines, like Google, search by keyword. The default search in Quicksearch and Articles+ is also by keyword (or "All Fields"), where you will return results where your keyword is located anywhere in the record or text.

Subject search

A subject defines a book or an article as a whole, and subject headings link information -- just like how hashtags link conversations in social media (#basslibrary). Using subject headings is a specific and effective way of doing research.

Ways to identify library subject headings:

1. Start with a keyword search in Quicksearch and identify 2 or 3 books that are loosely related to your topic (they don't have to be perfect, just close enough). Open the records and look at the "Subject" field -- voila! Write these subjects down, or click on them (they're hyperlinked!) to uncover other material within that same subject.

2. Some resources will offer the ability to browse subjects, for example:

• ​in Orbis, select "Subject Browse" in the dropdown menu from Orbis Basic Search
• in the database Academic Search Premier, select "Subject Terms" in the top toolbar

Combine search terms

You can combine your keyword and/or subject searches by using Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT in an Advanced Search. When combined with keywords and/or subjects, boolean operators will help focus your search in the following ways:

• AND will narrow your search, requiring all search terms be present in results
• OR will retrieve variations ("pets" or "dogs" or "pugs"), so at least one term (maybe more) is present in results
• NOT will exclude items from your search, helping to narrow results to only relevant information

In the example above:

• cats OR dogs will return results where either cats or dogs are mentioned
• cats AND dogs will return results only when both cats and dogs are mentioned
• cats NOT dogs will returns results when only cats are mentioned