COMM 490: Music & Mediation

Tips for searching the Library Catalog, the web, and other library databases (applicable to many search engines, including Google)

• Put phrases in quotation marks:  "hurricane katrina"

• Use an asterisk for truncation (any ending of a term):  communicat* will find communication, communicates, communicating, communicator, etc.

• To search for ANY of a group of terms, use OR and parentheses:  (movies OR film OR cinema)

• To search for ALL terms, use AND:  violence AND movies

• Combine the above two strategies:  violence AND (movies OR film OR cinema OR "motion pictures")