POLS 471C: Proseminar in International Relations

Watch this video to learn how to navigate OneSearch to find materials available through the University Library.

To get more results, broaden your search.

• * Use an asterisk to find articles using any of the variants of the same root word.
  • democrac* = democracy, democracies, democratic, etc
• Use fewer search terms. Look for words not unique to your topic that you could cut from your search string.
• OR Use OR to link synonyms, so you get articles where the authors used other terms to describe the same concept. 
  • (city OR urban OR municipal)
  • (environmental OR ecological)
• Use more inclusive search terms.
  • Bigger locations - too few results from senegal, try africa*
  • More general terms - too few results from literacy, try education
• Search as many possible sources at once by using CSU+ or Google Scholar.

To get fewer results, narrow your search.

• " " Use quotation marks to find exact phrases, when you need words next to each other in precise sequence to have the meaning you intend.
  • "social capital"
  • "civil war"
• Add more concepts to your search. Consider the who, what, when, where, why, and how.
• Use narrower, more specific concepts or aspects of your original topic.
  • global climate change => sea level rise
• Search fewer sources, one top journal at a time.