To form a search strategy you need to connect your keywords together using AND and OR. These are known as connectors or boolean operators.
Find out more, select the below.
AND connects different keywords together so you can find references containing all these keywords. The more keywords you connect using AND the more focused your search will become.
working hours AND family
OR connects synonyms or alternative keywords together so each reference contains one or more of these words:
family OR families OR parent OR parenting
Single search box:
("working hours" OR "hours of work") AND (family OR parents)
Now read the below short guide and try the interactive activity.
Key function you can use in most search tools including the Library collection search and many databases:
| Key function | How to use it |
| Quotations marks "..." | Use to search for words as an exact phrases:"working hours" |
| Truncation | Use the * to find plurals and other word forms: parent* finds parents, parenting etc. |
| Brackets () |
Use to group similar keywords together if using a single search box: ("work hours" OR "job hours") AND (family OR parent) |
| Limits or filters |
Use to focus your search results further. Common limits in the Library collection search include:
|
| Advanced search | Most search tools has an advanced or multi-field search option. These can be useful to help you structure your search. |
Please note: the menu to refine your search results is now located on the right and called Refine my search.