How does this work?
Putting "AND" between your search words instructs the computer to search for articles that contain all of your search words.
If you don't use “AND”, your search results may include articles that only contain one of your search words.

How does this work?
Putting a phrase in quotation marks instructs the computer to search for articles that contain that exact phrase.
If you don't use quotation marks, your search results may include articles where words from the phrase do not appear next to each other.

3. Try different combinations of search words
If you do a search that doesn't retrieve many results, try redoing the search using different but related search words.

How does this work?
Using related search words to redo a search may help you to find additional information on your topic.

Some things to keep in mind:
When you are reviewing the articles you find, here are some things to remember:

• Don't automatically pick the first article you find -- the best articles aren't necessarily listed first.
• Make sure you choose articles that are relevant to your assignment -- not all of them will be!
• Evaluate the information you find -- we will discuss evaluating information in more detail later.

Evaluating Information
If you are doing an effective search, you will usually find a lot of information of your topic.

QUESTION: With so much to choose from, how do you know what to use for your assignment?
ANSWER: You need to evaluate the information.

Do not wait until you are finished your research to begin evaluating information. Information should be evaluated while you are doing your research. This will:

• save you time
• help you avoid using information that you do not need or cannot use

Here is a set of criteria you can use when evaluating various sources of information:

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING INFORMATION Criteria Books, Magazine & Newspaper Articles Web sites Relevant Is the information related to your research topic? Does the information address some aspect of your research question? Is the information connected to your research topic? Authoritative Is the author's name frequently mentioned in your research? Does the author have expertise in the subject area he/she is writing about? Is there an author listed? (if not, be cautious!) Is the information written by a well-established organization? Reliable Is the information supported with sufficient evidence? Is this evidence included in a Works Cited list at the end of the book or article? Is the information supported with sufficient evidence? Is this evidence documented somewhere on the page? How does the URL (web address) end? Check the end of the URL -- websites that end in ".gov" (government) or ".edu (educational) are generally more reliable than websites that end in ".com" (commercial). Current Information recently written or revised is generally more accurate than material that is out of date, so determine: Is the information up to date? When was it written? (check the year of publication). Is the information up to date? Can you find a "last updated" or "last modified" date at the bottom of the page? If you don't know when the information was written, you need to be careful! It may be either inaccurate or out of date.

Be careful when you are searching.
Do not just pick the first information you find.
Evaluate the information and only use what is useful for your assignment.