Using the Advanced Search feature in Omni allows you to conduct a more specific search.
Advanced Search allows you to specify the author or creator of a work, search by ISSN, and limit your search to specific types of content.
If you wish to return to Simple Search, select the link next to the top right corner of the search box.
Use synonyms or alternative forms of your keyword. Between each synonym type the Boolean Operator OR. Specify your search field.
Pay attention to spelling variations. Use British OR American OR Canadian spelling variations to ensure you find all materials. For example, counselor OR counsellor.
Use Boolean operators (AND, OR)
Most search engines assume AND comes between your search terms. Library databases are different.
Narrow or refine your topic by limiting your results to a specific geographical location, group of people, timeframe, etc. Between each word, type the Boolean Operator AND.
For example: apples AND bananas
Use OR to search for the concepts that may could be located under different words.
For example: teen OR teenager OR youth
Often you retrieve more relevant results with a complex search that includes your key concepts and their synonyms.
OR retrieves more results
Search for 'tv OR television'. Notice, this search has retrieved MORE records that searching 'tv' alone.
AND retrieves FEWER results:
Search for 'tv AND Television'. Notice, this search has retrieved FEWER records than searching 'tv' alone.
Use the wildcard symbol (*) to get MORE results.
Shorten your search term and use the wildcard symbol, allowing you retrieve the singular, plural or other variations of your word.
The wildcard symbol for Omni Search is *
For example, child* would retrieve child, child’s, children, and children’s.
Use parentheses to group Boolean statements.
First, put the synonyms for each concept in brackets with the word “OR” between them. Then, connect the key concepts with the word “AND”. Here is an example: “(television OR tv) AND child*”. Below is the first screen of results for this search query. Note that records with EITHER the word tv or the word television are retrieved, as long as the word stem child* also appears in the record.
Search using AND, OR and wildcards. Synonyms are enclosed in parentheses and connected by AND.
Concepts with more than one word can be connected with quotation marks to keep them together in your results.
"time machine"
"global warming"
"First name Last name"