Xavier University | Discovery Services Chat with Us Text Us Email Us Call Us Make an Appointment Xavier A-Z Directory MyXU Portal Xavier University Technology ServicesLibrary Help Course Materials Journals Articles & Databases Books & More
  Quicklinks Library > Help
Quicklinks
 

My Library
My Library Privileges
My Library Record

Quick Help
Ask-a-Librarian
Call Numbers
Citation Style Guides
Finding Articles FAQs
Finding Books FAQs
Locating Library Materials
Off-Campus Access

Resources
Copyright Information
Library Liaison Program
RefWorks Help
Useful Forms
Steps to Information Fluency
Subject Guides
xu.tutor

 
 

 

 

   
  Help: Search Engine Tips & Tricks
   
 

The following "rules of thumb" are employed by most search engines.

Typing this . . Returns pages containing . . .
academic medicine the words academic medicine next to one another, then pages containing academic and medicine, and finally pages containing academic or medicine
"academic medicine" the word academic next to the word medicine
+academic medicine the word academic, and maybe the word medicine
+academic +medicine both academic and medicine, although not necessarily next to one another
Bart Simpson the name (remember to capitalize proper nouns)
+Simpson -OJ the name Simpson; pages containing OJ are ranked lower (some search engines will exclude pages with the name OJ)
1-800-999-9999 the telephone number (dashes link the numbers together as a phrase)
paris paris, Paris, and PARIS
Paris only Paris
wish* wish, wishes, wishful, wishbone, and wishy-washy
image:spine the image named spine
url:gov the word gov in the host name, path, or filename
Note: If you are using a plus (+) or minus (-) search operator, there is a space before the operator, but no space between the operator and the search term.
 

Quicklinks

Copyright 2010 Xavier University Library | 3800 Victory Parkway Cincinnati, Ohio 45207 | 513 745-3881