Guides: Animal Science: Search Tips

Tips for Creating Advanced Keyword Searches

These tips can be used, in general, with the Library's OneSearch, databases, and on the open Web.

Try Boolean operators or connectors

AND = Fewer results. All of your search terms must be found in the results. EXAMPLE: heat stress AND chickens. You could also just type: heat stress chickens.
OR = More results. Any one or more of your search terms must be found in a result. EXAMPLE: Rambouillet OR Suffolk.
NOT = Fewer results. Word(s) must be excluded from the results. EXAMPLE: NOT review. The word "review" would be excluded.

Try a phrase search

Find words that appear in a particular order. Type the words in order between quotation marks. EXAMPLE 1: "nutritional requirement" EXAMPLE 2: "video image analysis"

Try a truncation search

Finds words that start with certain letters. Type a word stem, then add an asterisk symbol. EXAMPLE: Foal* will find foal, foals, foaled, foaling.

Try a nested search

Use parentheses to separate search statements so they can be combined and performed in order. Statements inside parentheses are searched first, and the order of operations is left to right. EXAMPLE: reproductive (problems OR complications OR issues OR concerns).

Try an index or field search

Find words in a particular index or field. EXAMPLE: You can search for words within the Title, Abstract, or Subject field.

Find Information on the Open Web

Logo by R. Kedar (1999)

Search the open Web more effectively with the links and tips below. Keep in mind that many online sources are plagiarized or of questionable quality. When using online sources, ask yourself the following questions:

Who is the author? -- What are her/his credentials? -- What possible biases exist? -- When was this source published?

Google.com
Use the site command to search within certain websites, e.g SITE:EDU for all higher ed websites, or SITE:GOV for official U.S. government websites with the .gov domain. See additional Advanced Search options from Google.
Google Books
This search engine provides full-text for older books out of copyright. You can also use it to preview newer books that you can then get from the library.
Google News
Search for current news from all over the world.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is Google's academic search engine. It can be used to find publications from reputable publishers and institutions. To connect Google Scholar results to the Library's databases, follow these steps: At Google Scholar, click on SETTINGS, then click on LIBRARY LINKS, add CAL POLY POMONA, and click SAVE. In your Google Scholar search results look for FIND IT CAL POLY POMONA.

More on connecting Google Scholar with Library databases

Here's how you change your settings in Google to connect the library resources.

Visit scholar.google.com

1. Click on the drop down button located on the left hand side.

2. Select "Settings"

In Settings:

1. Click on "Library Links"

2. In the search box, enter "Cal Poly Pomona" and select the search button.

3. Select "Cal Poly Pomona - Find It Cal Poly Pomona"

4. Save your settings by clicking "Save"

Doing a search, you will notice on the right-hand side, "Find It Cal Poly Pomona" appears. This is to let you know that Cal Poly Pomona University Library might have access to the article/book.