NR320 - Natural Resources History and Policy

Search Terms

A single concept can be described in many different ways, so use a variety of words when you are searching to retrieve more information on your topic.

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators can help you to find exactly the information that you need.  Learn more about how to use them by watching this video from the University of Alabama Libraries.

More Search Techniques

Two other search techniques work in most databases.

• Truncation:  Place an asterisk at the end of a word stem to search for other forms of that word
  • Ex)  bicycl* - finds bicycle, bicycling, etc.
  • Truncation expands the results
• Phrase searching:  Put short phrases in quotations to search for results which contain that phrase
  • Ex) "bicycle commuting"
  • Phrase searching narrows the results

Many library databases only include abstracts (summaries) of articles.  If you don't see a link that says "PDF full text" or "HTML full text" in a database, look for the FindIt@CSU icon. This will link you to the full text of the article.