Connect to FirstSearch databases that require a password.

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Advanced searching help

FirstSearch databases

FirstSearch: Basic Searching

Before you log on:

Write down your search ideas, e.g., "Find out about zinc's effects on the common cold."
Select key search terms and try different combinations:

• Common cold
• cold
• zinc
• Cold and zinc
• common cold and zinc

When you are online:

1. Select an appropriate database, e.g., Medline
2. Enter search words: cold zinc
3. Use search operators AND, OR, NOT in your search:

Searching for: cold zinc finds items with cold and zinc.

Searching for: cold and zinc also finds items with both terms

Searching for: cold or zinc finds items containing either term, or both terms.

Searching for: cold not weather excludes items about cold weather.

Avoid special characters, except hyphens (-) and ampersands (&) in your search terms.

Check search terms in the wordlist first, to make sure of correct spelling.

Scan the results of your search. You may select and save records from the results list so you can print or view them in sequence or e-mail them.