LIBRARY v MID-ATLANTIC REGION 

Search Tips

APA Style

MLA Style

Using  ProQuest

Using Hoovers

Using netLibrary

Search Tips

Selecting a Topic

Hint:  Each database has a “search help” section that will give hints and tips on how to search that particular database…a few minutes spent learning how to search will save you a lot of time!!

“Select the Few”

Limit your search to a few of the offerings. In the library catalog, limit to items available at the Crystal City location. In Proquest, limit to a specific publication. Using Google, limit your search to exclude .com sites.

“Titles Tell the Topic”

Search using “’keyword’ in title” for more precise results. A title’s function is to reflect the main subject of a specific publication.

“Get to the Subject”

Search by subject headings by using the database system’s capability to display subject headings lists. From the list of subject headings, click directly to the articles.

“Find the Pearl”

Do a simple keyword search and then examine the results to find a

“good article.”  Check out the top of the article to see what subject

headings are used to categorize the article.  Try a new search

using those subject headings.

“Build it in Boolean”  

Use advance search features to build Boolean searches where “AND” will tie together different keywords and concepts, e.g., terrorism AND biologic AND detection.

“Close it in Quotes”

Use “noun phrase searching.” Enclose naturally occurring phrases in quotation marks (i.e. “cell phone innovations”) for more precise searches.