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CU Search Help

Montgomery Library's guide to finding library resources

Search Tips

Use these tips when looking for library resources using CU Search.

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Advanced Search with Boolean Operators

Boolean operators can be used to narrow or broaden your search results. Type these operators in ALL CAPS.

  • AND searches for records that use both words. Use AND to narrow your search results. Example: nursing AND employment
  • OR searches for records that use either word. Use OR to broaden your search results: nursing OR paramedic
  • NOT excludes words from the search. Use NOT to narrow your search results: nursing NOT emergency
  • Use the Advanced Search link located below the CU Search box to easily submit a search using Boolean operators.

 

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Phrase Searching

Enclose phrases in quotation marks to find items that include the exact phrase. 

Enter in the search box: "renewable energy"

When you put these words in quotation marks, the results must contain the phrase "renewable energy" in this exact word order. If a source mentions energy and the word renewable separately, then it will not be included.

 

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Nesting Your Search Terms

Use parentheses to place search words into sets. Words in parentheses are processed first. Combine sets with Boolean operators.

Enter in the search box: nutrition AND (dogs OR cats)

 

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Truncation

Enter the root of the word followed by an asterisk (*) to broaden your search to include variant word endings and spellings.

Enter in the search box: elect* 

This gives you results containing the words electing, election, elections.

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Wildcards

Substitute a wildcard character for a single character in a search term.

Two wildcard characters are supported:

  • Use # (pound sign) to represent a single character: wom#n = woman, women
  • Use ? (question mark) to replace up to 9 unknown characters in a search term: encyclop?dia = encyclopedia, encyclopaedia