Conducting an Advanced Search allows you to fine-tune your results to better fit your needs by entering multiple search terms. You can access the Advanced Search box by clicking "Advanced Search" near any ScholarSearch Basic Search box.

1. Begin by entering your first search term into the first box.
2. Choose a citation search field from the All fields drop-down list (see arrow B).
   • The field selected will be searched for the keyword or phrase in the search box.
   • The fields include All fields, All text, Author, Title, Subject terms, Journal Title/Source, Abstract, ISSN, and ISBN.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the second set of search boxes. 
4. Click the Boolean operator drop-down menu to combine the search box entries with AND, OR, NOT (see arrow A). To learn how to use these operators, please see the next box ("Advanced Searching Techniques").
5. You can select another Boolean operator, keyword, and search field in the third search box set.
6. Click the Add fields button below the search boxes if you would like to add more lines of search to your advanced search (see arrow C). 
7. Under Filters (see letter D), apply any desired limiters to your search. For example, you may want to limit results to items with full text available online and published within a custom date range you select.
   • To add a Custom date range, select Custom range and click the fields to select start and end dates from the date picker.
   • Other available Filters include Peer Reviewed (Scholarly) Journals, Author, Title, Publication Date, Location, Journal Name, and Language.  
   • Note: Any limiters that were selected on the Basic Search screen before accessing Advanced Search are applied to searches conducted with Advanced Search.
8. Under Publications (see letter E), you can select specific journals or other publications to search. 
9. Finally, either click the magnifying glass Search button or press the Enter key on your keyboard to submit your search and view your results.

Are you curious about what a particular publication has to say about your topic? Follow the steps here to search within that specific publication and find the exact results you're looking for!

Begin by navigating to the basic search box and type in the name of the publication you wish to locate. 

On the results screen, you should find an exact match Publication Placard for the publication you searched for. By using the search box inside this Publication Placard, you can research your topic within this publication.

After searching within the publication, you will be presented with a results screen. This results screen works just like every other ScholarSearch results screen aside from the fact that all of the items presented come from the same publication. You can still apply filters and limiters to adjust the results to fit your needs, as well as access full text, request, view details, save, share, and cite results.

• Boolean operators allow you to combine search terms by using the following words: AND, OR, NOT. 
• When you want your results to include both of your search terms, use the boolean operator AND between them.
  • For example, if you're researching the history of horror fiction, you can search: "horror fiction" AND history. All of the results you receive will include both of those terms.
• When you want either one of your terms to be included in your results (not both), use the boolean operator OR between them.
  • For example, to get results involving either New England or Maine, search: "New England" OR Maine.
• When you want to completely exclude a term from appearing in your results, use the boolean operator NOT before the keyword.
  • For example, if you wish to research the Jersey Devil cryptid but are overwhelmed by the amount of results focusing on the New Jersey Devils hockey team, search: "Jersey Devil" NOT hockey. 
• To construct complex searches with multiple boolean operators, you can nest portions by using parenthesis.
  • For example, you can search ("Jersey Devil" OR "Leeds Devil") NOT hockey to research the cryptid using both of its names and excluding results that revolve around the hockey team by the same name.

• Truncation allows you to search for a word that can end in a variety of ways. To do this, insert an asterisk (*) in the spot where the spelling of the word can change.
  • For example, searching child* will give you results that include child, children, childhood, childish, childlike, and so on.
• Be careful that you don't place the truncation symbol too early in the word as you will end up with many irrelevant results.
  • For example, if you're researching animation and search anim*, you will get results involving animation, anime, animals, animatronics, animalistic, animosity, and so on. 
• The asterisk can be used within words to find multiple characters.
  • For example, a search for hea*one will match words beginning with “hea” and ending with “one,” such as headphone, headstone, and hearthstone.
• The asterisk wildcard is best used with at least three leading characters. When at least three characters are used before the asterisk, characters after the asterisk are included in the search.
• The asterisk (*) can also be used between words to match any single word.
  • For example, a search for midsummer * dream will match the phrases midsummer night’s dream and midsummer day’s dream.

• Wildcards allow you to search for various spellings of a word at once.
• A question mark (?) is used to replace an unknown character.
  • For example, searching wom?n will give you results containing woman, women, womyn, and womxn.
  • Question marks at the end of words or character strings are not treated as wildcards. They are automatically removed from a query.
    • To use a question mark as a wildcard at the end of a word, you need to put a # before the ? character. The hash before the trailing question mark indicates that the question mark should be treated as a wildcard to find exactly one character at the end a word.
      • For example, a search for Monday#? will match Mondays, but not Monday.
• To use the hash (#) wildcard, enter your search terms and place # where an alternate spelling might contain an extra character.
  • For example, type colo#r to find all records containing color or colour, or type p#ediatric to find all records with pediatric or paediatric.

• If you want to get really fancy, you can combine truncation and wildcard symbols! For example:
  • Searching colo#r* will retrieve results containing colorblind, coloring, colorings, colorization, colorize, colorized, colouring, colourings, colourisation, colourization, colourize, colourized, colourizing, and so on...
  • Searching p#ediatric* will retrieve results containing pediatric, pediatrics, pediatrician, pediatricians, paediatric, paediatrics, paediatrician, paediatricians, and so on...

All of the information presented here will work when using ScholarSearch and other EBSCO databases. Wildcards and truncation can also be used in non-EBSCO databases, but the symbols may differ. To find more information about advanced searching techniques for the database you're using, look for a "Help" button or try doing a Google search for "[database name] wildcards" to find a guide. If you get stuck, please reach out to a librarian for help!

Truncation and wildcard guides for some of the most common databases are linked in this section.