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BIOL 4620: Plant Ecology

This guide was created to support students enrolled in Plant Ecology (BIOL 4620) find relevant resources for their research such as journals and databases.

Refining Your Search

You can use AND, OR, and NOT to build a search phrase that helps narrow or broaden your search results.

  • AND: Narrows your search and retrieves results that include both terms you are searching.
    • I.e., birds AND "wind farms"
  • OR: Broadens your search and retrieves items that include both terms.
    • I.e., birds OR raptors
  • NOT: Narrows your search and excludes items with a certain term.
    • I.e., birds NOT raptors

You can also use " " quotation marks and ( ) parenthesis to build your search.

  • " " Quotation marks will tell OneSearch when you are looking for a phrase and keeps two or more terms together.
    • I.e., By putting " " quotation marks around the phrase "wind farms" OneSearch will know to only look for the two terms together.
  • ( ) Parenthesis put your search words into sets. It's particularly useful when you are using AND, OR, or NOT.
    • I.e., (Birds OR raptors) and "wind farms"
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