How to Research: A Tutorial

Keywords and the Catalog

Use your keywords to begin searching for books and media.

• Select 1 or 2 of the most important keywords related to your topic.
• A keyword search will look for your words in all parts of the catalog record: the title, author, and publisher; a summary or table of contents if available; and the Subject Headings that have been assigned to the item.
• Warning! The catalog is NOT like an Internet search engine. It will recognize keywords, but not entire sentences.

The following sections will show you the Tutorial and the Catalog side by side so you can navigate them independently. Use the arrows to follow the steps while searching the Catalog. If you get lost you may click "Back to Tutorial" to return to this page.