Search Tips for Firstsearch 

The Mundt Library pays about 80 cents each time you click on a Search button in Firstsearch.  We encourage you to use Firstsearch databases when you need them but also ask that you not waste searches.  

• For help in deciding whether to use a Firstsearch database, please ask a librarian.

The Mundt Library pays about $4.00 each time someone uses a fulltext link to get the full text of an article in Firstsearch, so we password-protect the fulltext link.

• Dakota State University students and staff can ask a librarian for the fulltext password. But before using it, please check our journal list to make sure the journal or magazine (in which the article is located) isn’t available in another database or in print in the library.  The link to our journal list is located at: http://www.departments.dsu.edu/library/Journals/intro.htm.  
• If the journal list indicates that we have the journal in another database or in print, but you can’t figure out how to find it, just ask a librarian for help and we’ll find it for you.

Please use OCLC Firstsearch responsibly by learning how to search effectively -- read and use the search tips below.  Thank you!!

1. Boolean operators: AND , OR , NOT

a. AND

Type and between two words in a search to specify that records found contain both words regardless of how many other words are between them.

If you type two search words with only a space between them, FirstSearch processes the search as if and was between them.

Examples:

b. OR

Type or between two words in a search to specify that records found contain either of the words. You can type or only once or twice in a search.

Examples:

manage or management Items containing either manage or management.

car or automobile or vehicle Items containing car or automobile or vehicle

c. NOT

Type not between two words in a search to specify that records found contain the first word but not the second. (If you want to use not as a search word instead of using it to combine other search words, type it in quotation marks. For example, to search for a title containing, death be not proud, type death be "not" proud.)

Examples:

2. Parentheses

You can use parentheses in a search to specify the order in which FirstSearch combines search words. It combines words in parentheses first. For example, if you want to find information about baseball teams named Brewers or baseball teams named Twins, you get different results if you type baseball and brewers or twins than if you type baseball and (brewers or twins).

If you type baseball and brewers or twins, FirstSearch first finds all records that contain both baseball and brewers, then it finds all the records that contain twins whether or not those records also contain baseball, and then it lists all those records for you. The list could include many records about twins that have nothing to do with baseball.

If you type baseball and (brewers or twins), FirstSearch first finds all records that contain either brewers or twins, then it selects any of those records that also contain baseball. All the records found contain either brewers and baseball or twins and baseball.

FirstSearch uses the following rules when it processes a search containing and, or, or not:

• It processes and, or, or not in left-to-right order unless ( ) are used.
• It processes and, or, or not in ( ) first.
• If there is more than one ( ) in a search, it processes them in left-to-right order.
• If there are ( ) within ( ), it processes them from innermost to outermost.
• It processes two words with only a space between them as if "and" was between them and they were enclosed in parentheses. For example, if you type civil war or stone river, FirstSearch processes it as if you had typed (civil and war) or (stone and river).

3. Phrase searching, by using the connector: W (with)

Type w between two words to specify that records found contain both words, in the order typed, with no other words between them. To search for the phrase "stone river" type: stone w river.

Examples:

4. Truncation, by using the * (asterisk) character.

To search for a word with alternative word endings, type *  (asterisk) after the letters which the words have in common.  For example, to search for the words: grateful, gratefulness, gratefully ....        find the beginning letters they have in common (grateful) and place the asterisk at the end to replace the alternative word endings:  grateful*

 Beware of truncating too much.  A search for arch* will retrieve records containing not only arch and arches, but many other unrelated terms such as archdiocese, Archimedes, and archive.

(You must use a minimum of 3 letters before the asterisk.) 

Examples:

5. Nearness or Proximity

Type w and a number (1-25) between two words to specify that records found contain both words, in the

order typed, with no more than that number of other words between them.

Examples:

If you type: FirstSearch searches for:

nursing w3 research Items containing first nursing and then research with no morethan three other words between them.

Type n between two words to specify that records found contain both words, in any order, with no other words between them. Type n and a number (1-25) between two words to specify that records found contain both words, in any order, with no more than that number of other words between them.

Examples:

To begin searching, click:  search OCLC Firstsearch  (or search alternate connection: OCLC Firstsearch alternate )