News

Use:

• AND
  This strategy will narrow your search. 
• OR
  This strategy will broaden your search. Put words linked by OR inside parentheses ( ).
• Quotation marks " "
  Using quotation marks will ensure that the database finds results that use that exact phrase.
• Asterisk * 
  The * symbol tells the database to search for alternative word endings, for example: cultur* will search for culture, cultures, cultural

How do I choose keywords for my searches?

• Words to include
  To search for current news stories, simply use search terms that reflect the main concepts of your topic.
• Use quotation marks
  If your topic is longer than one word, you can optimize your search by putting quotation marks around the terms you use. Using quotation marks will ensure that the database finds results that use that exact phrase.  
• Use AND
  To search for multiple terms in the database, you need to link your search terms with AND. This strategy will narrow your search. 

Found too many results?

• Add more keywords
  If you find that you are retrieving too many results, try adding more keywords to further narrow your topic.

Found too few results?

• Use OR
  The OR operator allows you to broaden your search by searching for either term in the search statement. Make sure you place parentheses around the terms separated by OR.

Limiting by date

• You can limit your results by publication date in newspaper databases. Simply select a time-frame from the dropdown menu below the search boxes in the database

You can review your searching skills with our Database Searching Basics guide and this UMGC Library Webinar on Boolean Searching.