Phone: (210) 486-4513
Email: nvc-library@alamo.edu
Text: 210-390-1112
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Or - use the FAQ searchbox below to search for answers when we're not available.
Search terms: Enter 1 or 2 words for your topic--not a whole sentence or a long phrase.
Brainstorm synonyms and related terms: Try to think of related terms and words that mean the same thing (synonyms). You are trying to think of the main words that authors writing about this topic used in their title. Do an initial search, and then look for relevant terms in the titles and summaries of the sources you find.
Example: To research space race, you might also search terms like: race to the moon, manned space flight, John F. Kennedy, space program, Apollo program, Sputnik.
Combine two search terms to focus a topic by using and, or, not.
Example: slavery and america
Truncation
Use an asterisk * to take the place of letters in a word so that other forms can be searched at the same time.
Example: slav* will search slave, slaves ,slavery
Phrases
Place quotation marks around phrases so all the words are searched together.
Example:“civil war”
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