Tips to refine your search results!
Phrase Searching: search using quotation marks around your search phrase when the phrase should appear in that exact order. For names or titles, you should enclose using quotation marks. For example, in my example searching the catalog I searched "Elvis Presley" in quotation marks as a phrase to eliminate any other findings with the word Elvis or Presley as a keyword.
Refine your results using filters: on the left hand side of your screen you will see filters. Refine your results by format type, date range, and available online or held by your library to narrow your findings and limit scrolling through catalog records.
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Search the Library Catalog
- Library Search This link opens in a new window
Check out the Library Search which finds print and electronic items, including journal and newspaper articles, book chapters, books, reviews, legal documents, and much more. Note: Due to licensing restrictions, some content is only available to current students, faculty, and staff.
What am I searching?
Everything: Most of the resources available from the Vanderbilt Libraries. This default search combines the Library Catalog and the Articles options.
Library Catalog: Books, e-books, journals and periodicals, media, music, and more. Search does not include articles.
Articles: Full text articles, e-book chapters, and other content.
Course Reserves: Everything currently on reserve for Vanderbilt courses.
Where to Find Scholarly Sources
Use the Library Search to search the library catalog. Select "library catalog from the dropdown menu to just search print books, e-books, media, and music. Place your solo artist or group in " " to ensure that you are searching the entire phrase and not two separate words.
Format your results:
Use the format function on the left-hand side of the screen to narrow your search to just books in the collection.
Articles searching
In addition to books, you will want to find articles using the library catalog search or by using one of our databases or journals. For additional information on how to use the databases visit the next tab. Use your solo artist or group name and other keywords to find articles on your topic.
