ENGL 1120

Not having any luck? It might be your keywords.  

Watch this short video on how to begin developing search terms for your paper.

[Please visit the video on YouTube for descriptive transcript] 

• An asterisk * at the end of a word tells the database to search for multiple endings 
  • Educat* will look for educate, educators, education, etc. 
• Quotation marks around a phrase will tell the database to keep those words together in that order
  • "New Mexico" -- otherwise you'll end up with hits about New York, New Jersey, and Mexico
• Use Boolean operators: AND (narrows search, joins different concepts) OR (broadens search, use for synonyms)
  • "New Mexico" AND population; "New Mexico" OR Southwest
• To search synonyms in a single Boolean search, put parentheses around them
  • (university OR college OR "higher education") 
• Use the built in limiters - select language or date published (or a range). You can even limit to peer-reviewed articles or other formats like dvds or ebooks

Have questions? Not to worry! Use the any of the following methods *or* the chat box below: