2. Research Guides

Climate and Environmental Studies Resources

The Library Search

Vanderbilt University Library Search

Selecting the best search scope for your research needs:

Everything vs. Library Catalog vs. Articles

Search Scope What is included? When should I use it?
Everything
  • Broadest search scope
  • Results will include books and ebooks, articles, and media like DVDs
  • A great option when you are just beginning your research process.
  • Use Everything when you want to survey the research landscape for your topic
Library Catalog
  • Focuses on VU owned items, physical and digital
  • Results will include books and ebooks, and media like DVDs
  • Digital collections like the TV News Archive will also be included in your results
  • You have defined your information needs
  • Use Library Catalog when you are ready to create a tailored search for your topic
Articles
  • Content from selected VU databases
  • Popular and scholarly articles
  • Use Articles to find popular and scholarly articles on your topic.
  • The Articles scope does not search across all databases accessible to the Vanderbilt community.
  • Not finding the articles you need or want more database options?

For a more detailed explanation of your search scope options consult What am I searching?

 

Search Tips

  • Use AND to combine terms & narrow your search 
    • example: environment AND climate 
  • Use OR to search for related terms & expand your search 
    • example: climate OR environment 
  • Use * to truncate a word & return all possible endings 
    • example: ecolog* = ecology, ecological, ecologist
  • Use ? to substitute for one letter of a word 
    • example: behavi?r = behavior, behaviour
  • Use ALL CAPS for AND and OR
Subjects: General