BIO 218 Vertebrate Biology 2 K. Rusho Boyer: Search Tips and Hints

In general, the bulk of the library's resources work best when entering a specific search terms for your topics, as opposed to questions.

For example, instead of entering this as a search:  What sort of laws are towns in New York State passing to encourage or ban fracking?  You might enter a keyword for each concept of the question you are seeking an answer for:  laws New York State fracking

Tips for Success:

• Spelling counts - while some databases do offer a Google-like "Did you mean?" feature, others do not.
  
• Try synonyms - instead of laws in the above example, you might try legislation.
• Use phrase searching as appropriate. If you are looking for the technical phrase for fracking, you can use often use quotation marks to search for "hydraulic fracturing"
  
• Combine search terms and phrases:  "ground water" and fracking (some databases will not require the "AND" as part of the search)
• Use wildcard symbols:  wom*n will return results with the words women or woman
• Use truncation symbols: medic* will return results with the words medical, medicinal, medicate, etc.
  

These are just a few examples and the specific search modifiers vary from database to database. Consult the database help screens for additional information and tips.  Here is EBSCO's help page.

Need help with something? Ask Us for Help!

If you are on-campus you are encouraged to stop by the Library and ask for help, we welcome the opportunity to work with you.

If you are off-campus and we are open your best option is to call the Reference Desk at 315-786-2482 and ask for one of us. You can also contact us via email or if you need immediate assistance and we are not open, you can chat with a librarian online (likely not a JCC librarian, but helpful nonetheless) as outlined on our "Ask for Help" web page.

We look forward to working with you!

John Thomas (jthomas@sunyjefferson.edu / 315-786-2314)

Beverly Scarpulla (bscarpulla@sunyjefferson.edu / 315-786-2224)