Searching Tips
Type your search word(s) or phrases in the HathiTrust Digital Library search box. You can use quotation marks to note phrases, and you can use AND and OR (in all-caps) to ensure that both terms must be in the results, or that one or the other term may be in the results.
Basic keyword searching
| Example: | Explained: |
|---|---|
| neuropsychiatry | Will search for items with the word neuropsychiatry. |
|
Islamic architecture |
Will search for items with both the words Islamic and architecture, in any order. |
|
"digital signal processing" |
Will search for items with the exact phrase digital signal processing. |
| anthro* | Will search for items that have the word stem anthro, such as anthropologists, anthropomorphic, anthropologischen, anthropology, etc. |
AND or OR searching
| Example: | Explained: |
|---|---|
| laws OR legislation | Will search for items with the words laws or legislation. |
| income AND occupation | Will search for items with both words, income and occupation, in any order. |
| "aboriginal australians" OR "indigenous peoples" | Will search for items with one or both of the exact phrase: aboriginal Australians or indigenous peoples. |
| garden* AND flower*
|
Will retrieve items that must have the word stem garden plus any variations of the word, such as gardening, gardeners, gardens, etc., and have variations on the stem flower, such as flowers, flowering, etc. |
| (vampires OR werewolves) AND history | Will search for items that have either the words vampires or werewolves, but must include the word history. |
Searching Basics
Note that the default search type is Full Text & All Fields. This means that you're searching the descriptive information as well as the content of items to which you have access. If you just want to search the descriptive information about the HathiTrust Digital Library items, similar to the search experience you have in the U-M Library Catalog Search, select All Fields from the pull-down menu. You can also select specific bibliographic fields to search, for example, Subject.
HathiTrust Catalog search options, with Subject field selected.
The Advanced Search is best for searching for some specific or exact elements of a citation, such as title and author together.
HathiTrust Advanced Catalog Search form for items with the title "housekeeping notes" and author "kettredge."