Skip to Main Content

Research Guides

INI332: Cities and Mega-Events

Ask a Librarian Chat

chat loading...

Search operators

You will find these operators useful when searching many electronic resources such as journal indexes.

Here are the basic operators:

AND: limits your search to items that contain both keywords

OR: broadens your search to items that contain either or both keywords

NOT: narrows your search to items that contain only the first keyword

$*?: allows you to broaden your search by including variant spellings

Search the catalogue


  • Try selecting the most important ideas in your research question. Use the important ideas as keywords.
  • Think of synonyms for your keywords. If you find you receive too few results, use a broader term. If you receive too many, use a more specific term.
  • Use the 'Subjects' tab on the left side of the search results page to help you fine tune your searching. Click on 'View more' to see additional subject terms to help narrow your search.