MNCAT Search Tips
See also What's in MNCAT?See also tips on finding scholarly/academic articles
What kind of search is best?
Keyword SearchIn MNCAT, the keyword search is the broadest search and will search all MNCAT fields.
A keyword search for the name of a famous person or a common name will return a large number of results. For example, a keyword search on Shakespeare will return books by Shakespeare, books on Shakespeare, as well as film adaptations, and more.
Author Search
An author search in MNCAT searches for the author or editor of a book, etc. It does not search the table of contents, or other MNCAT fields, and will not find instances where a person has contributed a chapter of a book. See the "Contents Search" below for tips on how to search table of contents in MNCAT.
How to Find Books and Chapters by an Author
To be comprehensive in an author search, yet not overwhelmed with results, consider doing two searches:Search 1: Author search.
Search 2: Content search.
A content search searches any table of contents available in MNCAT (and not the entire content of a book). This search can be done from the Advanced Search
How can I explore a topic using MNCAT?
Topics can be explored using MNCAT's subject headings. Cataloging librarians have assigned subject headings to books, journals, etc that cover a similar issue. Example:
What else can I do to create effective searches?
Unfortunately, the subject headings approach is not comprehensive. Take note of the words you come across and use them in keyword searches to explore further. Use AND, OR, NOT statements. For example, looking at the subject headings above, you could create the following search. Combine keywords and OR statements with AND. Use parenthesis around OR statements:
See also What's in MNCAT?