The easiest way to search for information electronically is to enter a couple of keywords into the search box of the resource and see what type of results you get. This strategy, however, will often result in too few, too many, or irrelevant results.
In order to retrieve the most relevant results, you will need to construct a search string. A search string is a combination of keywords, truncation symbols, and boolean operators you enter into the search box of an electronic library resource or an Internet search engine.
For more advanced 
searching tips, visit their Inside Search site.
| Search Strategies | Examples |
| Queries are not case sensitive. |
Barack Obama and barack obama produce the same results. |
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Results will typically include each word or punctuation mark included in the query. Some stop words or exceptions apply. |
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Keep queries descriptive, but use as few terms as possible. Avoid natural language. |
Use colorado statehood instead of when did colorado first become a state. |
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Google automatically truncates search terms. To prevent this, use a + sign in front of each term. |
A query on child retrieves results with "children" and "childcare". |
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Use double quotations marks (" ") to search terms as an exact phrase. |
A query on "Barack Hussein Obama II" will retrieve only those sites that refer to Obama by his full name. Sites that refer to him as simply 'Barack Obama' may be overlooked. |
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Use the site: feature to limit your results to a specific website or class of websites. |
The query cloning site:online.wsj.com will only retrieve articles about cloning from the online version of the Wall Street Journal. |
| To allow for either of several words to appear in your results, use the OR operator. The operator must be in all caps. |
A query on hotel OR lodging OR inn will retrieve results with any or all of these terms. |