Searching Tips

Where to start?

Base your selection of a starting point on:

disciplinary or subject focus, and/or
type or format of information needed (book, scholarly article, popular magazine or newspaper article, review article).

Looking for background information as an introduction to a topic?

Try searching the library catalog (Quick Search) or Annual Reviews for this type of information. Quick Search will point you to books (e- and print), as well as other resources.
Annual Reviews contain lengthy articles that summarize key research on a topic, and provide an extensive bibliography.
Distance students: Consider searching WorldCat, particularly for books. You might find items you need available in libraries geographically closer to you than the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries.

Looking for primary research articles? Search one or more of the online indexes found at the "Journal Articles & More" tab.

How to start?

Broad topics - Use keywords. You can always narrow your search later.

Connectors - Connect your search terms wisely:

AND = all terms must be present in a result (narrows your search)
OR = only one of the terms must be present (broadens your search)
NOT eliminates term(s) from your search.

Spelling counts - If your search isn't working, check your typing.

Spelling variations - Is it honeybee or honey bee? Behavior or behaviour? Fertilizer or fertiliser?

Truncation saves you typing and increases the number of your results. Check the index for the symbol used; a common truncation symbol is the asterisk (*). Add the symbol to the root of the search term (e.g. biodegrad* = biodegrade, biodegrades, biodegradation, biodegradable).

Wildcard saves you typing and time by replacing a letter in a search term. Check the index for the symbol to use. For example, wom?n searches for woman and women.

Searching Step-By-Step

Start by typing your search terms into the "Quick Search" box on the UNL Libraries home page:

The words "forensic entomology" entered into the Quick Search box.

By default, your search results will include books and ebooks from UNL and other NU libraries, plus journal articles and other electronic materials.

To limit the search to only UNL items (mainly books and ebooks), select "UNL Library Catalog" from the drop-down menu and click the magnifying glass button to re-run your search.

Dropdown menu shows these options: Search All, UNL Library Catalog, NU Libraries, Articles and More, Course Reserves

Now, we have narrowed our thousands of results down to just a few. Take a look at these first three search results. They are all available as ebooks - you can see that they have an "Available Online" link. The third item is also available as a print book, located in the Dinsdale Family Learning Commons.

Library catalog search results for "forensic entomology"

If you are looking for articles, you can change the drop-down menu to "Articles and More." Now, you will see mostly articles that you can access online.

Articles and More search results for "forensic entomology"

For more information on searching the catalog, watch this video.