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Using SearchWorks: Searching the library catalog and articles+: Common searches

This guide provides general tips on using SearchWorks and the articles+ search feature to find materials in the Stanford Libraries catalog and across a wide range of subscribed databases.

Common searches

Phrase

Use quotation marks "..." to search for a specific phrase. Word-stemming will still occur within the phrase.

SearchWorks finds results that include all the words in the order given, as well as results that may have a word inserted between two words in your phrase. For example:

  • "french beans food scares" would match a record containing
  • "french beans make food scares" but would not match
  • "french beans can make food scares"

 

Title, Series, Subject

To search a specific type of metadata, select it from the All fields dropdown. 

 

Author

Select Author from the All fields dropdown. 

Searching by "Last name, First name" is most effective.

  • "Barton, John" (in quotation marks) will find more accurate results than John Barton without quotation marks.

Use truncation to search for a name with only a first initial.

  • Kie?lowski, K* will find Kie?lowski, K. and Kie?lowski, Krzysztof - but the asterisk cannot be combined with quotation marks, so the results will be less specific.

 

Call number

Select Call number from the All fields dropdown. 

Search from the left:

  • MSS CODEX M0379 CB, not just CODEX M0379

Truncate from the right, if your search doesn't return any records:

  • KF5402 .D38 1994 can be shortened to KF5402 .D38 or even KF5402

Spacing and punctuation are ignored:

  • KF5402 .D32 is the same as KF5402D32