Tips on typing keywords
Start with 2-3 important words relating to your topic. If you start with too many, it may limit your search too much and you may miss resources that would be perfect for your paper.
Add on extra words to narrow down your results. More words = fewer results.
Use "quotation marks" to keep your keywords side-by-side as an exact phrase, for example, "social mobility" or "american dream."
Use the * asterisk as a wild card to give you the same stem with any ending, for example, redlin* will give you the words redlining, redlined and any other words that have the root redlin-.
Use (parentheses) to nest, or combine similar keywords with the connectors OR, AND, NOT, for example, ("social mobility OR "american dream" or "upward mobility") AND (ethnicity OR education OR gender)
A few good sources for finding books
- OneSearch This link opens in a new windowLos Rios Libraries' online catalog and access to the content of most databases held at Los Rios.
- eBook Collection This link opens in a new window
Ebooks on social sciences, information technology, the humanities, business, economics, and more.
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Background information from general and subject encyclopedias.
