Use the Universal Library Search to explore all resources in one place.
Search terms could include:
Make sure you break down your question into keywords. Instead of how we might speak to each other using natural language like, "What is the definition of music therapy?," most library search engines operate using keyword matching. For this example a better library catalog search would be: music therapy definition.
Another way to search library catalogs is using subject headings. Under Advanced Search, you would select Subject Terms, then type your search terms in the box. Using subject headings can expand your search beyond trying to match keywords.
Subject headings searches might include:
Use Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT as well as quotation marks to tell the search engine exactly what you're looking for.
Using AND: "music therapy" AND children. Quotation marks indicate you want an exact match of those words in that specific order. AND means you only want results that contain both music therapy and children.
Using OR: elderly OR geriatric. Using OR here means you would like to see results that contain the term elderly as well as results that contain the term geriatric.
Using NOT: music therapy NOT cancer. Let's say you are seeing a lot of results about music therapy and cancer patients, but you are not interested in these results. Use NOT to exclude results containing the term cancer.
Databases are collections of information organized by theme, format, or time period. Searching in databases is a great way to narrow your search to scholarly works or specific themes. Use your key terms to search within these databases. For example, if you want to take a very medicalized approach to music therapy, try a medical database like PubMed.
Journals are publications of scholarly articles that have been reviewed by editors. Searching in journals is a great way to narrow your search to scholarly works or specific themes. Use your key terms to search within these journals.
