If you encounter a message that you should pay to access an article, ebook, etc. online, STOP and try the following: 

1) Search for the resource the library website <www.library.utoronto.ca>

• Learn more from UofT's LibrarySearch Tips Guide 
• Learn why you need to SIGN IN with your UTORID to LibrarySearch 
• Search for Specific Titles in LibrarySearch (e.g., books, articles, newspapers, films, etc.)
  1. Find an Article by Title in LibrarySearch 
  2. Find a Book by Title in LibrarySearch  

2) Set up Google Scholar to ask for your UTORID

• Go to Google Scholar Settings, select 'Library links' in the navigation menu on the left and choose ‘University of Toronto Libraries’
• Full instructions to set up Google Scholar to prompt your UTORID 

3) Ask for help if you still have access issues

• Need Immediate help? Check the online chat services Ask a Librarian 
• Contact your Subject or College librarian via email 
• Check UofT Libraries 'Ask Us' page for other types of help 

To search effectively, find the keywords (which are the main ideas) for your research topic. Why? Most search tools don’t understand natural language (i.e. sentences), so searching with keywords can help you find articles on your topic

Choosing your Search Terms

Think of the language that will be the most effective for your search and keep track of search terms that produce the best results. Ask yourself: 

• Will your topic be discussed in the news using scholarly terms or would other terminology be more effective?
• Has the terminology changed over time or based on location? 

Designing your Search Strategies

Some databases allow you to enter search terms on separate lines (e.g., enter a keyword the top line and researcher or activist's last name below, so as to articulate your search request)

Using Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks, asterisk) allows you to widen or narrow the search for your keywords and target your research topic: 

Quotations marks (narrows your search)

Search for specific phrases or names or different spellings e.g., hyphens

• "border crossing", "El Contrato", "City of Toronto" 

• "employee engagement" OR  "employee-engagement" 

 

Asterisk * (widens your search)

Be aware that this doesn't work in certain databases.

• politi* = political, politician, politics

• Canad* = Canada, Canada's, Canadians, Canadian, Canadiana

 

AND (narrows your search)

• "refugee camp" AND migrat*

• migration AND climate 

 

OR (widens your search)

Watch out for US vs Canadian Spelling, synonyms, acronyms

• migration OR mobility

• neighbourhood OR neighborhood  

• (COVID-19 OR  COVID OR "Corona Virus") AND (questionnaire OR survey OR "focus groups")  

  • Use brackets to create separate groups of actions in your search.

 

NOT (narrows your search by excluding keyword)

Use only when you need to remove topics that overwhelm your search results

• "environmental migrant" NOT hurricane

• (migration OR mobility) NOT refugee

Search operators are a set of commands that can be used in almost every search engine, database, or online catalogue.  The most popular  operators are AND, OR, and NOT. These must all be in capital letters to work. Other operators include parentheses, truncation, and phrases.

Use the following search operators to broaden or narrow your results.

AND	Use this word between concepts to narrow your results.	e.g. sensory AND perception
OR	Use this word between related concepts.	e.g. habitat OR ecosystem
NOT	Use this word to exclude terms from your search.	e.g. virus NOT corona
Quotations	Use quotes to search for a multi-word concept.	e.g. "International Year of Indigenous Languages"
*	Use the asterisk symbol to include alternate word endings.	e.g. cultur* will search for culture, cultural, and culturally
?	Use a question mark to include variations in spelling in your search.	e.g. wom?n will search for woman, women
(  )	Use brackets to create separate groups of actions in your search.	e.g. "climate change" AND (ecosystem* OR habitat*) AND Ontario

Pictured below is an example of how all of the above search operators can be combined to refine a search that will help locate sources describing the experience of women participating in the Black Lives Matter movement in Canada.