A good place to start your search is the Library Catalogue.
When searching for information, think about the keywords or phrases that describe your topic. You can combine your keywords to enhance your search using connectors such as AND, OR.
- "global warming" AND Australia
- "global warming" OR "climate change"
- To search for phrases, use double quotes. E.g. "global warming"
- To find variants of a word, use the * symbol. E.g. ethic* finds ethic, ethics, ethical etc.
- To find different spellings of a word, use the ? symbol in place of a letter. E.g. organi?ation finds organisation or organization
- To exclude words or phrases, use the connector NOT. E.g. Java NOT Indonesia
- In the catalogue, as well as many databases, you can use the advanced search option to search within specific fields such as title, author, keyword or subject term
For further information, have a look at the range of How To guides
- Plan your search [PDF]
- Save Time Searching Databases with Truncation, Wildcards and Phrases [PDF]
- Plan your Search [video, 2 minutes]
- Learn to Search the Library Catalogue [interactive tutorial, 15 minutes]
More help is also available under 'How do I refine my search?'.