Searching the term SOCIAL MEDIA gives you results with the words SOCIAL and MEDIA anywhere in the description of the item, but not always as one term together. To search SOCIAL MEDIA as a single term, use quotations to keep the words together: "SOCIAL MEDIA"
Searching the term TEENS gives you results that have the exact word TEENS in the description of the item, but not TEENAGER or TEENAGE or other endings for the root word TEEN. To search a term will all possible endings, use the * symbol (or asterisk) to get more results: TEEN*
Searching the term COLOR gives you results that have the exact word COLOR; however, what if you want to include the British spelling COLOUR? In that instance you can use a ? to get more results: COLO?R. This can be particularly helpful if there are multiple spellings of a word or if you're unsure how to spell your search term.
Identify subject headings, or words used to uniformly describe or 'tag' the subject of an article or book in many databases. In some databases you can use the THESAURUS function to find subject headings, or try looking for a drop down menu next to the search box.
Quick Search is the main search box on the library homepage. It will search the library catalog, as well as many of the databases we subscribe to. Quick Search defaults to Basic Search; this means that you cannot specify where you want Quick Search to look for your keywords.
Advanced Search can be helpful in these instances, as you can specify in what fields you want to look for your keywords. Example: searching for TEEN* only in the subject and title. Advanced search also gives you the ability to apply specific filters to your search from the get-go. You can limit by publication date, language, source type -- the list goes on.