Help: Research Tools: CU Library Catalog: Searching the Catalog:

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Guided Keyword Searches

A Guided Keyword search lets you choose where in a record to look for the keywords you seek. You can select specific fields to search (such as author, title, publisher, etc.).  You can also combine search criteria in a variety of ways (for example, by requiring certain keywords to be found but ensuring that others are not).  Search Limits are available for Guided Keyword searches.

See the Compare Search Types chart for an overview of all of the CU Library Catalog searches.

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To Perform a Guided Keyword Search:

1. If desired, set Search Limits. 

   Search Limits may be set before or after your search to restrict by year, language, item type, medium, location, and/or publication status. Search limits will remain valid for all Title and Keyword searches until you clear them.

2. Enter a keyword or phrase in one or more of the Search for: boxes.

3. Use the drop-down arrow next to all of these to choose how to treat the keywords that were entered. Select from one of the following options:
   • all of these -- will find records containing all of the keywords, regardless of their order. (This is equivalent to the Boolean operator AND. )
   • any of these -- will find records containing any of the keywords, regardless of their order. (This is equivalent to the Boolean operator OR.)
   • as a phrase -- will find records which contain keywords in the exact order they appear in the search box.
   
   
4. Click the drop-down arrow next to the Search in: box for a list of field indexes:

   Keyword Anywhere Author/Creator Title Publisher/Place/Date Subject Series

   ISBN/ISSN Name (By or About) Form/Genre Anywhere Notes Author/Creator: Uniform Title Title: Uniform Title Donor Name

   See Guided Keyword Field Indexes for descriptions and search examples for each of these indexes.

   A search can be guided to look for keywords in a specific field index or set of fields of a catalog record by selecting items from these drop-down lists.
   
   NOTE:  The order of the field indexes in these drop-down menus is dynamic and will change over time and be determined by the amount of use for each index.

   If no field index is selected, the default option, Keyword Anywhere, will be applied to the search. Keyword Anywhere searches all of the fields in a catalog record for the keywords or phrases entered in the Search for: boxes.

5. If you have entered search terms in more than one Search for: box, select a Boolean operator (AND, OR, NOT) to connect the search statements in the separate boxes by clicking in the designated radio button to the left of each operator.
   • AND will narrow the search by combining the terms: cornell and agriculture
   • OR will broaden the search by allowing either term to be found: cornell or agriculture
   • NOT ensures that certain terms will not appear in the search results: java not coffee

6. Choose the number of records to display per page.

7. Click the Search button to begin your search.   (The Reset button will clear the search box.)

To Combine one or more Guided Keyword Searches:

1. Run two or more guided keyword searches.

2. Click the Search History button. (This button appears in the top menu bar after you've done a search.)

3. In the Combine column, select the checkbox to the left of each search to be used and click the Search button.

Please Note: Only guided keyword searches can be combined. If there is no box across from a search, it is not possible to combine it with others.

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Search Tips:

• Searches are not case sensitive: a search for either Cornell or cornell will retrieve the same records.
• Do not use quotes around phrases: three little pigs
• Use a question mark (?) with partial words to find variant endings.  librar? will search for library, libraries, librarian, etc.

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Interpreting your Search Results and Displays