Help: Research Tools: CU Library Catalog: Basic Search:

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Author Searches

An Author search locates items by the name of their author(s) or creators. An "author" can be an individual, an editor, an association, a company, a conference, a performer, or a governmental agency.

See the Search Type Comparison chart for an overview of all of the CU Library Catalog searches.

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To Perform an Author Search:

Search Limits DO NOT apply to Author searches.

1. Click Author in the Search by: box.
   
   
2. In the Search for: box, type the author's name.  See Search Tips below.
   
   
3. Choose the number of records to display per page.
   
   
4. Click Search.
   

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Search Tips

• For an individual author's name, enter the last name (family name or surname), a space, and then the first (personal) name: rice anne
• You do not need to include a first name or initial, but for common last names it is helpful to include at least part of the first name: williams tenn
• If the spelling of the last name is uncertain, search only part of it: dostoev
• Try variant spellings of names: for smith, try smythe. Similarly, try acronyms or abbreviations of names: for GE, try general electric.
• Retain the hyphen in a hyphenated name: evans-pritchard
• For multi-part surnames, follow the conventions of the author's country or language: gogh vincent van
• For organizations, corporations, or government agencies as authors, search enough of the name to distinguish the section or department of the organization responsible for a work: Cornell University Medical Col
• For conferences, omit the year or number of the conference: ieee conference on control applications, rather than 9th ieee conference
• Do not use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to connect search terms in Author searches.
• Do not use a truncation symbol (?). Searches are automatically truncated and retrieve records that begin with the words or phrases entered. It is usually better to enter fewer words: a search for shakes or  shakespeare will retrieves works by William Shakespeare.

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Interpreting your Search Results and Displays