Penn State University Libraries - Savvy Searching in the CAT

Browse

• What it does: Quickly finds an item when you know the title or author
• How to do it: Select the “Begins with (Browse)” radio button, pick title, author etc. from the drop-down box and type in your info
• Example: Freakonomics (title); Wilde, Oscar (author)

Search using AND

• What it does: Narrows your search
• How to do it: Combine terms by typing ‘AND’ between them
• Example: history AND telecommunications

Search using OR

• What it does: Expands your search
• How to do it: Combine terms by typing ‘OR’ between them
• Example: Persia OR Iran

Truncation  $

• What it does: Searches for variations on a word. Use when you need to do a broader search
• How to do it: The CAT uses a $ as a “wildcard” to stand in for one or more letters. Place the $ at the end of the letters that are common to each word
• Example: Typing fem$ will search female, feminine, feminism, femininity, feminist

Phrase Searching  ' '

• What it does: Searches for an exact phrase\
• How to do it: Enclose the phrase you want to search for in single quote marks
• Example: ‘binge drinking’

Advanced Search

• What it does: Lets you get fancy with your search—limit or combine the language, format, date, and more
• How to do it: From the CAT, click on the “Advanced Search” link and choose your options
• Example: Choose “Video Material” from Material Type box and search by keywords for DVDs