Reference & Student Success Services
What is an advanced search?
An advanced search allows users to utilize multiple search boxes, combining terms in a variety of ways, to limit and/or maximize the results of a search. To access this feature from UConn Library's primary search, Articles + Library Catalog, navigate to https://lib.uconn.edu/.
The interactive image below highlights the key features of the Articles+ Library Catalog search box on UConn Library's homepage.
UConn Library's default search is a Basic Search. A basic search is a one-box search where you will utilize simple keyword searching. This type of search should be familiar to you, as it is similar to searching things like Google and Amazon.
Click on the "Advanced Search" link to expand your search options. This will allow you to mix and match search terms, narrow date ranges, select material types, identify a language, and narrow to a specific part of UConn Library's collection.
The interactive image below shows users the key aspects of UConn Library's Advanced Search.
In the Search for section, you can select particular areas of UConn Library's collection to explore. If your not sure, no worries! You can just leave it at the "Articles + Catalog" default, which allows you to search almost all of the library's content.
With the drop-down menu marked Any field, you can select a particular field to explore: Title, Author/Creator, Subject, ISBN, and ISSN. If you are not sure about what field to use, leave it on "Any Field" and search them all.
The contains dropdown let's you focus on how the search term is interpreted. Your options are "contains," "contains exact phrase," and "starts with." This helps you to broaden or focus the results of your search.
The AND dropdown contains Boolean operators, which allow you to include and exclude search terms. AND shows you results that combine your search terms. OR gives you results that include your search terms alone or together. NOT let’s you eliminate particular terms from your search.
Material Type gives you the option to narrow down to a particular type of resource, such as videos, articles, or books.
The Language pull-down menu includes 11 different languages, so you can select the language that best fits your research needs.
And if you need to narrow your search to a particular date range, you can set a Start date and End date for publications. This helps you get results published in only the timeframe that works for you.
