Getting Research Help
Book a Research Appointment
Get lengthier and more specialized research help with our book an appointment service.
Visit our Research Help Desk
Visit the Research Help Desk on the main floor of the Library for help.
Attend a Workshop
Workshops are scheduled throughout the term.
Online Guides and Videos
How-to guides and videos on writing, research and citation
Related Guides
Search Tips
Boolean Searching
Construct your search
Searching in Omni is like searching in any academic database. You can search by entering simple keywords, but you can improve your search results by including some of these tips and tricks.
| TIP | EXAMPLE |
|---|---|
| AND between words you want to combine (include all words in your search) | fish AND pollution AND lakes |
| Quotations for phases | "health science" |
| OR is used between synonyms or similar words | habitat OR ecosystem |
| Exclude words | gambling NOT lottery |
| Alternate word endings (e.g., cultur* for culture, cultural, and culturally) | cultur* |
| ? for single character wildcard (e.g, wom?n for woman, women) | wom?n |
| Brackets to group terms | "climate change" AND (ecosystem* OR habitat*) AND Ontario |