Not sure how to construct the right kind of search for finding specific eras, events, or people?  Try to focus your search on three keyword concepts:  Event, Text, and Topic.  See examples below.

Then, think about how you can combine your keywords using AND or OR.

So how does this translate?  Let's say you were writing a paper the Reformation. Some of the searches you could try include:

• Henry VIII AND reformation
• Reformation AND Great Britain OR England (lower case will work, too - usually you don't need to capitalize)
• Puritan AND Dutch OR Netherlands

In an "Advanced Search" option, you can connect search terms the following ways:

AND - narrows your search results by looking for two (or more) keywords at the same time.
Example:  "inquisition" AND "spain" gets results that include both terms. Add a third term, for example, AND "moor*" to get even more specific results. (Note that "moor" has an asterisk - this gives you all variations of the word (see Truncation below).

OR - expands your search results by searching for more than one keyword at a time.
Example: "england" OR "great britain" searches for results that include either term.

NOT - narrows your search results by excluding specific words from your results.
Example: "medieval" NOT "gothic" will return results that mention medieval, but does not include "gothic." This option helps you eliminate irrelevant results from your search results.

Tip: use ONE search term per search box.

Use these to limit your search to an exact phrase.

Example: "Elizabethan England" limits your search to the topic. (**Try Googling your name, or your professor's name, with and without question marks around the name).