Items will appear higher in the search results list if:
- the search term appears in the main title and/or author information;
- the search term appears in more than one area in the record .,( e.g. subject heading, author and title);
- the search term exactly matches the title of an item.
- newer items are given priority over older items.
Items will appear higher in the search results list if:
- the search term appears in the subject headings ;
- the search term appears in more than one area in the record (e.g., subject heading, author and title);
- the search term exactly matches the title of an item.
- newer items are given priority over older items.
- After performing a search you can refine your search results using one or more of the filters: date, author, subject or publication type.
- We recommend not to use the publication year as a search team. It is better to narrow down your search results by date after performing a search.
- If you enter four or more search terms, the search terms will automatically be connected with the Boolean operator OR. The results list will contain items that do not cover all search terms. For a combined search of four or more search terms add the Boolean operator AND (or +) between the words.
- The preset fuzzy search returns records even if the search term contains additional or missing characters. Misspellings or word differences will usually still return results.
- To search for a phrase, type quotation marks around the phrase.
- After performing a search you can refine your search results by different criteria, the most important being publication type (academic journal = journal article), subject heading, publisher and database.
- You can limit your search to full text articles only.
- We recommend not to use the publication year as a search team. It is better to narrow down your search results by date after performing a search.
- Multiple search terms will automatically be connected with the Boolean operator AND (or +). You can also use the Boolean operator OR between the search terms or use the proximity search options.
- Misspellings or word differences will usually return no results.
- To search for a phrase, type quotation marks around the phrase.
A wildcard is a particular character used as a stand in for any word or letter in a search phrase.
Use the question mark symbol ? to replace one character in a word. For example, to search for "text" or "test" you can use the search: te?t Use the asterisk symbol * to replace multiple characters in a word. For example searching for colo*r finds color and colour.
As you can see in the examples, you can use the wildcard searches in the middle as well as at the end of a word.
Searches using up to three words automatically default to use the AND. The AND operator tells the catalogue that all search terms must be present in the resulting records. If you want to search for items containing four or more search terms, you have to use AND between the words. Note: Operators must be typed in capital letters!
Example: To search for records that contain "economics" and "Friedman" you can use the query: economics Friedman or economics AND Friedman
Tab “books & more”
Instead of the operator AND between search teams you can use the symbol + before the search terms with the same effect. Example: +international +politics +ulrich +albrecht
You can search for items that contain at least one of the words or phrases you type in the search box. To do so, type OR between the words or phrases. Note: Operators must be typed in capital letters!
Example: to search for records that contain either Keynes or Friedman, use the query: Keynes OR Friedman
You can exclude items that contain specific words or phrases. To do so, type NOT and then type the word or phrase to exclude. Note: Operators must be typed in capital letters!
Example: to search for records that contain "economics" but not "Friedman" use the query: economics NOT Friedman Note: The NOT operator must be combined with other terms. For example, the following search will return no results: NOT economics
Tab “books & more”
Instead of the operator NOT between search teams you can use the symbol - before the search term with the same effect.
Example: economics – Keynes
When using multiple Boolean operators, please consider that by default, operators are processed in the following order:
- NOT
- AND
- OR
Use brackets to group search terms together. You also can combine brackets with wildcards and phrase searching.
If you are looking for literature on trade in the middle ages or early modern period you could search for: trade AND (“middle ages” OR “early modern period”)
If you are looking for literature on the diagnosis and therapy of autism, but you want to exclude adults you could search for: (diagnosis AND autism AND therapy) NOT adult*
By default, in articles & more you are searching the records only (e.g. author, title or subject headings).
To search within full texts of articles, book chapters or complete e-books use the advanced search and click on the checkbox “search within full text”. Enter your search terms in the search box “all fields”. We recommend using proximity search to limit your search to relevant titles.
For articles & more you can also use proximity searching. It allows you to relate two or more words in a search, even knowing that they may be separated by another (or several other) words. In proximity searches, use the command N (=near) and the number of intervening words to direct the search engine. The operator W (=within) lets you define the order of the words in addition to the number of intervening words. These operators are especially helpful for searching within the full text of an item.
Example 1: soccer N5 team (N5 lets you find items containing both words within 5 words form each other)
Example 2: soccer W5 team (W5 lets you find items containing both words within 5 words of each other and in the order you have entered them)
You can combine proximity operators and Boolean operators for more advanced searching.
Example: (baseball OR soccer OR basketball) N5 (team OR player)