Reference & Research

Start your search by entering a keyword or keyword phrase in the library search box. 

At the top of the search box, you’ll see several tabs that let you filter your results right from the start:

• Everything: Shows all results, including books (print and eBook), articles, videos, and more
• Books: Limits results to print and eBooks
• Articles: Limits results to journal, magazine, and newspaper articles
• Video: Limits results to streaming video, mainly from Academic Video Online and Adam Matthew Explorer

We recommend starting your search with the "Everything" tab if you are new to a subject, and narrowing down your search results as you go. Keep your search brief at first, using your subject as your search term(s). If you know the title or author of the material you are looking for, you can enter those in as your search terms.

When you are ready, click Submit to see your results.

After submitting your search, you will see a list of results similar to what you might see on Google.

Here is how the results page is structured.

• The center panel shows a list of search results, ranked by relevance.
• The panel on the left-hand side of the page contains filters. You can use these to narrow your results by type, date, subject, peer-review status, etc.

Clicking on a result opens the item record—a detailed page that includes the title, author, and publication date, a summary or abstract, the format (eBook, article, video, etc.), and access options.

Item Record

To access an item record, click on the title of an item from your search results. The item record gives you information on the item, such as the author and publication information, related subject headings, availability (physical or digital), and action options (save, cite, share).

The access panel on the right-hand side of the screen will show you if an item is available.

• Print availability: Items only available in print will show the location, availability (green check = available), and a "Place Hold" button to request the book.
• Digital access: Look for buttons like "View eBook," "View Full Text," or "View PDF."
• Interlibrary Loan Request: Items that we do not have access to or that we only have the abstract for will show a "Request Item Through Interlibrary Loan" option. To request the item, simply fill out the form, and the library will do the rest.

Using Filters

After submitting a search in Discovery, you may see hundreds or even thousands of results, which can feel overwhelming. You may also find that some of the results are not relevant to your assignment.

Before changing your search terms, try using the filters on the left-hand side of the search results page. These tools let you quickly narrow down results based on:

• Format: Article, book, eBook, video, etc.
• Publication date: Limit results to recent or relevant time periods
• Peer-reviewed: Show only academic or scholarly sources

Using these filters is one of the easiest ways to focus your results without starting over.

Adjusting Search Terms

If filters are not giving you the results you need, it might be time to change your search terms.

As you explore a topic—for example, "information"—you might come across other words or phrases that give you better results. Each time you search with new keywords, Discovery will generate a new list of sources. Some will overlap, but many will be new.

Example

• Start with: information
• Then try: data
• Or get more specific: "data analytics" OR "information science"
  • Tip: Use quotation marks around phrases like "data analytics" to tell the system to search for these words together, not separately. You'll learn more about using quotation marks and other Boolean Operators in the Advanced Search Strategies & Tools module.

Experiment

There is no one "right" way to search. Research is a process of trial and error.

It may take a few tries to get it right. Throughout the process, try different keywords, synonyms or related words, adding filters after a broad search, or removing filters from a narrow search.

The goal is to find the best sources for your specific research needs, and that sometimes takes a few tries.