Advanced Search

Geography & Cultures Search

Basic Search

Student Resource Center allows you three basic options for performing a search. Select an option from the pull-down menu at the top of the home screen and select search. The options are as follows:

• Search by Subject (default option)
• Search by Keyword
• Search by Full-text

Enter a term in the search box and choose an option from the
pull-down menu and choose search. If you have chosen the subject
or keyword search,  a list of subject terms most closely matching your criteria will appear on the left hand side of the screen and a list of subjects containing your search terms on the right-hand side of the screen. Often you will see the term you searched for at the top of the list; this indicates that the term is in the Subject Guide's thesaurus. Selecting the term from the subject guide will give you a similar-looking screen, only this time the Subject Guide results will be in hierarchical order: you will see headings and underneath these headings "See". If you click on "See" you will retrieve "Broader Terms," "Related Terms," "Narrower Terms," and/or "See Also" under which there will be more general and more specific, terms. To retrieve results from a Subject Guide entry, select the hyper linked term. 

If you choose the Full-text search option, the subject guide will not appear. Instead you will only receive your tabbed results list.

If no results can be found, you will receive a message asking you to revise your search.

Documents are grouped by data type into the following tabs: Reference, Magazines & Journals, Newspapers, Primary Documents, and Multimedia. Clicking on the labeled tabs allows you to choose the type of document you wish to see. The results list will display the title of the document and its source. Reference and Primary Documents will display according to their relevancy rankings (how many times the term appears in the article). Magazines &  Newspapers will be arranged in reverse chronological order, with the most recent article at the top of the list. You can view the different data type results by clicking on the labeled tab. If the search does not find any results for a specific data type, the tab will be "grayed out" and will not work.

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Advanced Search

With Advanced Search, you can conduct a search on a particular field, data type, and/or date of publication. Below are descriptions of the types of searches you can conduct. Please see Search Tips to learn how to improve your search results.

You can also limit your searches by date of publication, document type, or document number by choosing one of the limiters below:

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Geography & Cultures Search

Student Resource Center (SRC) Geography & Cultures search allows you to search a specific set of data that is limited to that particular subject. You may select Geography & Cultures search from the SRC home page or from the top navigation bar on all other pages in the product.

To use the Geography & Cultures search select either Places or Cultures (Places is the default option). A drop down list for each selection is present for you to narrow your choice even further. You must select one of the subtopics in the list in order to retrieve results. You must also enter a keyword in the search box so you can execute a search. If you do not enter a keyword error message will appear reminding you to do so. The keyword search box will only allow 20 characters to be keyed into it.

You will also have the option of limiting your search results to a particular document type such as Country Overview, Flag, Newspaper, and State Overview. The default is Any. You also have the option of choosing how many results you would like to show up per page. The choices are 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100.

Documents are grouped by data type into the following tabs: Reference, Magazine and Journals, Newspapers, Primary Documents, and Multimedia. Selecting a specific tab allows you to choose the type of document you wish to see. The results list will display the title of the document and its source. Reference,  Primary Documents, and Multimedia results will display in alphabetical order. Magazines & Journals and Newspapers results will be arranged in reverse chronological order, with the most recent article at the top of the list. You can view the different data type results by clicking on the labeled tab. If the search does not find any results for a specific data type, the tab will be "grayed out" and will not work.

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History Search

Student Resource Center (SRC) History search allows you to search a specific set of data that is limited to that particular subject. You may select History search from the SRC home page or from the top navigation bar on all other pages in the product.

To use the History search select either All, U.S. History, or World History from the pull-down menu (All is the default option). You must select one of the subtopics in the list in order to retrieve results. You will only be able to select one subtopic. A keyword must also be entered into the search box before you can execute a search. If you do not enter a keyword an error message will appear reminding you to do so. The keyword search box will only allow 20 characters to be keyed into it.

You will also have the option of limiting your search results to the following document types: Biography, Era Overview, Event Overview, Primary Document, Topic Overview. The default is Any. You also have the option of choosing how many results you would like to show up per page. The choices are 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100.

Documents are grouped by data type into the following tabs: Reference, Magazine and Journals, Newspapers, Primary Documents, and Multimedia. Selecting a specific tab allows you to choose the type of document you wish to see. The results list will display the title of the document and its source. Reference,  Primary Documents, and Multimedia results will display in alphabetical order. Magazines & Journals and Newspapers results will be arranged in reverse chronological order, with the most recent article at the top of the list. You can view the different data type results by clicking on the labeled tab. If the search does not find any results for a specific data type, the tab will be "grayed out" and will not work.

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Literature: Author Search

There are two ways to search for an author. One is with a simple name search, the other is with to search using Biographical Facts.

Name Search
When adding an author's name in the search box,  you will have a number of retrieval options. One option is retrieving only biographical information on the author of choice, or see everything we have on your author of choice, including criticisms, plot summaries, texts of poems or plays, and more.

The Author name search enables you to search on a complete name or any word or combination of words known to be part of a person's name. Variant names and pseudonyms used by an individual are also searchable. An added feature now allows you to browse a list of author names to assist you in your search. You may search for a person by selecting Name contains or Start of last name. Searching by Name contains allows you to key a full name or any word or combination of words known to be part of the person's name. Searching by the Start of last name will yield less precise results than searching by a first and last name. For example, searching on bon will return a results list that contains Sonny Bono, as well as Bonaventure, Surya Bonaly, Bobby Bonilla, and many others. Matching variant names and pseudonyms should return the person's full name in the results list. If only one name is found to match your criteria, the application will take you directly to the main tabbed results page for that name.

If you are not sure of the author's name, you can look for the name by browsing the "View Author Names" link. To access the list, simply select the "View Author Names" link below the name text box. A screen will appear with an alphabetical list of letters and a list of names. Select the type of results you want: (Biographies only or all results). Select the letter you want and a new screen will appear with that letter and a new list of author names starting with the letter of your choice. Select a name, and the name will be added to the search box automatically. Select search and you will receive your results. 

Biographical Facts Search

Another way to search for types of authors is to fill  in as many of the other search fields as you like. Below are descriptions of Author Search fields. This will give you a more targeted search, but it will also restrict your search to our most studied authors.

Literature: Title Search

The Title Search features allows you to search the entire database for titles of works based on all, part, or some of the words you enter in the Title Search field. You may select from three types of search options:

Literature: Topic Search

The Literature Topic Search feature allows you to search on a specific topic in literature by selecting a topic from the pull-down menu. You must select one of the topics in order to retrieve results. Topics include:

• Authors Novels Poems Shakespeare
• Short Stories

You must also enter a keyword in the search box so you can execute a search. If you do not enter a keyword error message will appear reminding you to do so. The keyword search box will only allow 20 characters to be keyed into it.

You will also have the option of limiting your search results to a particular document type such as Criticism, Plot Summary, Study Questions, Text of Poem. The default is Any. You also have the option of choosing how many results you would like to show up per page. The choices are 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100.

Documents are grouped by data type into the following tabs: Reference, Magazine and Journals, Newspapers, Primary Documents, and Multimedia. Selecting a specific tab allows you to choose the type of document you wish to see. The results list will display the title of the document and its source. Reference,  Primary Documents, and Multimedia results will display in alphabetical order. Magazines & Journals and Newspapers results will be arranged in reverse chronological order, with the most recent article at the top of the list. You can view the different data type results by clicking on the labeled tab. If the search does not find any results for a specific data type, the tab will be "grayed out" and will not work.

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Multimedia Gallery Search

The Multimedia Gallery Search allows you to search for multimedia files so that you may view  images, hear recordings and/or view video associated with your subject. Selecting the multimedia button will bring you to a search screen. In the search box, you enter a subject term, title, or caption. Below the search box is another box in which all media types are selected at first, if you only wish to see specific media types (e.g. images only) then you must de-select the other types so they do not show up in your results list.  The documents retrieved are displayed in a single list arranged alphabetically by document title. Media documents are also searched through the other searches as well, and are displayed on the Multimedia tab. Select the document that you would like to see.  The different media types will display the following icons in your results list:

	Image	Select the link. A .jpg image is displayed.
	Audio File	Select the link.A Shockwave control bar appears and the audio file loads. Select play on the player to begin playing (there might be a slight delay while the file is buffering)
	Video Clip	A QuickTime control bar will appear in a new window when you click on the video link. A video file will begin to play once buffered.
	Map	Select the link. A PDF image is displayed.
	Flag	Select the link. A .jpg image is displayed.
	Seal	Select the link. A .jpg image is displayed.

If you want to see a list of all the media images in SRC, leave the text box blank and hit "Search." If you want to see a list of only a certain type of media (image, audio, video, map, flag, or seal), deselect the media element check box(es) you are not interested in, leave the text box blank and hit "Search." 

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Person Search

There are two ways to search for a person. One is with a simple name search, the other is with to search using Biographical Facts. 

Name Search
Simply enter a name in the box labeled "Name Search" and click the search button. You may also select whether you want only biographies on a specific person or all articles related to that person by selecting either "Biographies only" or "All results" above the search box. You may search for a person by selecting Name contains or Start of last name. 

Searching by Name contains allows you to key a full name or any word or combination of words known to be part of the person's name. 

Searching by the Start of last name will yield less precise results than searching by a first and last name. For example, searching on bon will return a results list that contains Sonny Bono, as well as Bonaventure, Surya Bonaly, Bobby Bonilla, and many others. Matching variant names and pseudonyms should return the person's full name in the results list. If only one name is found to match your criteria, the application will take you directly to the main tabbed results page for that name.

If you choose "All results" for your search, SRC will search for documents across the entire database and return results under the following tabs:

• Reference Magazines & Journals Newspapers Primary  Documents
• Multimedia

Biographical Facts
The Biographical Facts feature also allows you to perform highly targeted searches on the biographical database to identify individuals who match certain search criteria. The search interface is flexible, allowing you to select one, multiple, or all terms on the page. The search results will be displayed on the Reference tab. Once you have identified the type of person you are looking for, you may then launch a search on the name by clicking on the "Search for any documents that may be available on this person" link at the top of the document.

Occupation Searches for an individual based on occupational information that appears in the career section of the biography. This section typically contains information on the person's various job titles, employers, places of employment, and other details. Within this field, enter a word or combination of words that specify a particular job title, field of endeavor, place of employment, or a related concept. For example: professor accountant lecturer Michigan State University You will now be able to choose an occupation by selecting the "View occupation list" link underneath the text box.

Nationality Finds individuals based on their birth or citizenship in a particular nation or country. For individuals who were born in one country and later became citizens of another, multiple nationalities have been identified. To make several selections from the Nationality list box, press down the Ctrl (Control) key and, while holding Ctrl down, click on multiple items.

Ethnicity Finds individuals based on their membership in a group that shares a common language, culture, customs, or background. To make several selections from the Ethnicity list box, press down the Ctrl (Control) key and, while holding Ctrl down, click on multiple items.

Gender Finds individuals based on their gender. Click on the arrow next to the drop down menu to specify Male or Female.

Birth Year and Death Year Searches Searches for individuals based on the year of their birth or death. You may search for birth and death dates: in a specific year by selecting is from the drop down menu and entering a year between a range of years by selecting is from the drop down menu and entering two years separated by a hyphen before a certain year by selecting is before from the drop down menu and entering a year after a certain year by selecting is after from the drop down menu and entering a year

Birth Place and Death Place Searches Searches for individuals based on the city, state or country wherein they were born or died. Within the Birth Place and Death Place fields, use a word or phrase. When searching by state, enter any known forms of the state name for best results.

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Science & Health Search

 

Student Resource Center (SRC) Science & Health search allows you to search a specific set of data that is limited to that particular subject. You may select Science & Health search from the SRC home page or from the top navigation bar on all other pages in the product.

To use the Science & Health search select either All, Health, or Science from the pull-down menu (All is the default option). A keyword must also be entered into the search box below before you can execute a search. If you do not enter a keyword error message will appear reminding you to do so. The keyword search box will only allow 20 characters to be keyed into it.

You will also have the option of limiting your search results to the following  document types: You will also have the option of limiting your search results to the following  document types: Audio, Biography, Image, Topic Overview, and Video. You also have the option of choosing how many results you would like to show up per page. The choices are 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100.

Documents are grouped by data type into the following tabs: Reference, Magazine and Journals, Newspapers, Primary Documents, and Multimedia. Selecting a specific tab allows you to choose the type of document you wish to see. The results list will display the title of the document and its source. Reference,  Primary Documents, and Multimedia results will display in alphabetical order. Magazines & Journals and Newspapers results will be arranged in reverse chronological order, with the most recent article at the top of the list. You can view the different data type results by clicking on the labeled tab. If the search does not find any results for a specific data type, the tab will be "grayed out" and will not work.

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Searching the Timeline

The Timeline feature enables you to search for significant events that
occurred from prehistory to the present.

There are several different ways to search the Timeline: Chronology Bar Search: You may scroll along the search bar and choose a specific time period by clicking on the time period box. A description of each period will pop up as you scroll your mouse over the search bar. Enter a specific year or range of years: You may key in a date in which the event begins or ends in the boxes provided or key in a range of dates. If you choose to search on a start and end date, the two years will be linked with an implied "and". (NOTE: If you enter in a date in the start box that is after the date you key in the end box, the system will automatically reverse them in its query when it executes the search.) AD/BC may be chosen for each date with AD being the default. Search Timeline: You may enter a specific event into the text box and click on the "Search" button.

Search Timeline Event and specific year: You may also key in a start
and/or end date and a search term. The years and terms will be linked
together with and implied "and".

• If a start date is indicated but the end date is left blank, the search will cover the start date through the present. If an end date is ndicated but the start date is left blank, the search will cover the beginning of the timeline (B.C.) through the end date indicated. If text is keyed into the "Search Timeline Event Text" box, but nodates are indicated in the year boxes, the search will include the entire timeline database. If dates are entered into the start/end boxes and a specific time period on the timeline is clicked, the years chosen on the timeline bar will override the years that were keyed in.
  
• If you wish to search in a single year, key the same year into both
  the start and end date boxes

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Mark List

The Student Resource Center allows you to mark documents that you find especially helpful or interesting in order to create a personalized citation list. Documents may be selected from a results list by checking the box to the left of the citation, or while viewing a document by clicking on the "Add to Mark List" button. After selecting one or more documents, you may view your citation list by clicking on the "View Mark List" button. To remove a document from your mark list, simply deselect the box to the left of thecitation, or click "Remove from Mark List" while in the document.

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Reading Levels Icons

Reading level icons next to articles in the results list indicate the levels of the sources' intended audiences. Publishers--such as Gale, Blackbirch Press, Time, Inc., and the New York Times-- create reading materials for a targeted audience and these publisher recommendations are the basis of the designated reading levels.

Basic reading level sources are those published for readers through the eighth grade. For instance, the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations (U*X*L) and Sports Illustrated for Kids are recommended by the publishers for this audience.

Intermediate reading level indicates a source published for students from a seventh grade level up through undergraduates, as well as the general public. Generally, sources published by Gale (e.g., Newsmakers) and general interest magazines (e.g., Consumer Reports) are designated as Intermediate sources.

  Advanced sources are those publications aimed at scholarly and/or professional audiences. An Advanced reading level icon would appear for articles from such periodicals as The Lancet and The Stanford Law Review.

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Citing Online Reference Works 

Example of MLA Style for a Gale-supplied reference:

Citing Gale Reference Material:

“Edward Abbey.” DISCovering Authors (1999). Student Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. 3 Sept. 2000 <http://www.galenet.com/servlet/SRC>.

Citing articles in scholarly journals:

Pearson, Roger L. "Gatsby: False Prophet of the American Dream." English Journal 59 (May 1970).  Student Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. 10 Nov. 2000 <http://www.galenet.com/servlet/SRC>.

Citing articles in newspapers:

Cowen, R. “Neutron Stars Twist Einstein’s Theory.” Science News 158:10 (2 Sept. 2000): 150.  Student Resource Center. Farmington Hills,MI: Gale Group. 10 Nov. 2000 <http://www.galenet.com/servlet/SRC>.

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InfoMarks--Saving Page Locations

An InfoMark at the top of any page indicates that the URL of the page persists even when the session is over. Persistent URLs can be book marked for future reference or copied into an electronic mail message or onto a Web
page. Use your browser to save the page as a bookmark.One common use for InfoMarks is to create a predefined search. Any combination of searching and limiting that produces results can be saved. A predefined search could be as narrow as a specific search or as broad as, for example, all articles
from a particular journal. Each time the saved link is selected, the search will be run anew, so the results are always fresh. To create a predefined search, save the URL at the Result List page, the page with a list of matching documents.Saving a Result List page provides a link to the list with the most recent count of matches.Saving a Mark List page provides a link to a list of selected articles.InfoMarks should be reasonably stable, but keep in mind that the journal selection and negotiated rights (for text and/or full content display) in a collection can change without notice. It's a good idea to verify your saved links from time to time.

Important: Anyone who uses a saved URL must have access to GaleNet and to the product from which the URL came. Users who have access to GaleNet but not the product from which the URL came will see the followingmessage: This InfoMark specifies a database that is not on your current
subscription list.

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Search Tips

General Tips	Date Ranges
Use of Stopwords	Search Operators
Capitalization	Proximity
Punctuation	Field Length
Truncation (Wildcard) Characters

 

 

 

 

General Tips

This advice will help you improve your search results:

1. Use at least two or three search terms. By using more search terms to narrow your search, you can locate essays that fit your information needs better. The following sample results are hypothetical:

Search Terms	Number of Hits
War	198
War soldier	98
War soldier confederate	19
War soldier confederate prisoner	3

Note: By default, the search engine finds only those essays containing all of the words you specify. See Search Operators below to learn how to use the AND, OR, NOT, and proximity operators.

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Use of Stopwords 

Note on the use of stopwords: Because the search engine does not recognize stopwords, your search term must be enclosed in quotes OR you can drop the stopword from the title or phrase. For example, when searching for a title
containing the word "to":

• (1) Enclose the phrase in quotation marks. The search will work on the exact phrase (example: "Farewell to Arms").
• (2) Omit the word "to" from the search (example: A Farewell to Arms would be entered as Farewell Arms).

Stopwords include the following: an, and, aspects,
but, co, corp, etc, for, from, if, in, inc, into, is, it, its, jr,
ltd, of, on, or, that, the, to, with.

3. Be specific. If you’re looking for information about ancient Rome, enter both of those words in your search. If you enter just Rome, your search may give you essays that discuss modern Rome or Rome, N.Y., in addition to ancient Rome.

4. Use plural or other word endings.
For example, if you are looking for discussions of murder, search for various forms of the word using the OR operator as the connector, e.g. murder or murders or murderer or murderous. (Note: You may also enter multiple words without the OR operator.) It is also possible, depending on the desired search term, to use the truncation (or wildcard) feature to retrieve both singular and plural forms of a word,
e.g. murder*.

5. Try using synonyms for your original words. For example, enter "nervous breakdown" or "mental breakdown" or "nervous disorder" or "mental instability".

6. Check your spelling. If you type litrature instead of literature, your search won’t find any matches.

7. Find an exact phrase with the help of the"W" operator. You can narrow your searches by requiring that the search terms appear as a phrase in the order that you typed them. For example, if you are looking for time travel, search for these words as a phrase, time W1 travel. (It literally means "find time "within 1 word of" travel.) This narrows your results from hundreds of matches to a few dozen matches, assuming the phrase that you typed is not too common.

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Capitalization

The search engine is not case sensitive. That is, use of capitalization does not affect the results of a search. For example, the following keyword searches are considered the same:

astronaut and spaceship or "outer space"

astronaut AND spaceship OR "outer space"

Astronaut and Spaceship or "Outer Space"

astroNAUT and spACEship or "oUtEr SpAcE"

 

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Punctuation 

Hyphen. A hyphen (-) used between two words is considered part of the term. If you are searching for a word or phrase that normally contains a hyphen, include the hyphen:

• "nineteen-thirties"
• "self-doubt"

Apostrophe. Apostrophes (’) are not recognized by the search engine and should be deleted from search terms.

• Salem Lot (instead of Salem’s Lot)
• Chatterley (instead of Chatterley’s)

Ampersand. Ampersands (&) are not recognized by the search engine. Instead use the W (Within) proximity operator. (See Search Operators below to learn more about proximity operators.)

• Tulips W2 Chimneys (means "tulips within two words of chimneys"; instead of Tulips & Chimneys)
• Socialism Radicalism W2 Nostalgia (instead of Socialism, Radicalism & Nostalgia)

 

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Truncation (Wildcard) Characters 

The * (asterisk) and ? (question mark) and ! (exclamation point) are used to search for words or numbers sharing a similar pattern. The * and ? and ! replace alphabetical and numerical characters.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The * and ? may not be used in date fields (such as Birth or Death year). Instead, use Date Range searching. The * (standing for any number of characters) is placed at the end of the term’s root. The search retrieves all words sharing the same root. For example, the term faith* retrieves essays that contain
the words faith, faithful, or faiths. The ? is used to replace exactly one character within a word to retrieve various forms of that word. For example, the term wom?n retrieves essays that contain either woman or women; and psych????y matches either psychology or psychiatry but not psychotherapy.The ! point stands for one or no characters. For example, analo!! matches analoganalogs, but not analogous or analogue.

 

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Date Range

A date range is used to search for multiple years in date fields (such as Birth or Death Year fields).

• 1940 - 1949 (to search for any year in the 1940s)
• 1927 - 1932 (to search for any year from 1927 through 1932)

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Search Operators 

The Boolean search operators AND, OR, NOT, and proximity operators may be used to refine your search. Whether the operators are typed in uppercase or lowercase does not affect the search. Please note, however, that if an operator appears in a title you are searching for, such as The Road Not Taken, it will still be interpreted as a search operator. This may lead to irrelevant results. If you are searching for a title that contains a search operator, enclose the title in quotation marks.

AND. Use the AND search operator to retrieve documents that contain both of the specified search terms. This operator places no condition on where the terms are found in relation to one another; however, both terms have to appear somewhere in the field you are searching. For example, a full text search for apples AND bananas will find any essay that contains mention both of apples and bananas.

OR. Use the OR search operator to retrieve documents that contain one or both specified search terms. This operator places no condition on where the terms are found in relation toone another; however, one or both terms must appear somewhere in the field you are searching. For example, a full text search for apples OR bananas will find essays that mention apples, essays that mention bananas, and essays that mention both types of fruit.

NOT. Use the NOT search operator to retrieve documents that do not contain the specified term. For example, a full text search for apples NOT bananas will find essays that mention apples but notbananas.

PARENTHESES. The operators described above each operate on either simple terms (words or phrases) or a more complex query delimited by parentheses ( ). Parentheses allow you to construct very powerful queries. For example:

• "pulp fiction" AND ((detective AND crime) OR hard-boiled)
• ("cowboy*" OR ("gold rush" AND california)) AND (1849 OR nineteenth century)

Boolean operators are applied in the order in which they appear. Therefore, the following searches are equivalent:

• apples AND bananas OR oranges
• (apples AND bananas) OR oranges

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Proximity

The proximity operators W (within) and N (next to) may be used to refine your search:

• The W operator will find essays containing the specified words in the specified order within the number of words you indicate. For example, old w4 sea finds documents that contain the word old within four words of the word sea, and old must precede sea.
  
• The N operator locates documents containing the words you specify within the number of words you specify, but the words can be in any order. For example, apples N4 bananas finds documents that contain the words apples and bananas within four words of eachother, regardless of their order (that is, bananas could precede or follow apples).

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Field Length

The length of any given field is not limited to the window you see on the screen. As a search term or terms is keyed, the text will continue to scroll to the left, so that you can see the search expression as it is being keyed.

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Copyright