The BCC Library Catalog allows you to search for words together as a phrase. Why would you want to do this?
Since phrase searching allows you to make your search more specific, you can limit your results to only those items that exactly match your search terms.
For example, your instructor has asked you to find a world atlas to use for a research project. You don't know the exact name of a world atlas, so you try to find one using a "Title" search.
In the "Search for:" box, type the words you want to search for.
[If you don't see the "Search for:" box: click on the "Bellevue Community College" link at the top of the catalog screen, then click on the "Advanced Search" tab in the middle of the catalog screen.]
In the box to the right of the "Search for:" box, click on "all of these".
Selecting "all of these" tells the catalog that you want all of the words in the "Search for:" box to appear in the title of the book.
In the "Search in:" box click on "Title".
Click the "Search" button.
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The next screen displays the results of your search.
Using the scrollbar on the catalog panel, scroll down to the middle of the screen to view your results.
Your search for "world atlas" in the Title field found 37 books.
Are all 37 books actually world atlases?
Look at the catalog description for Item No. 1. What is the title of the book?
Why did your search find the "Atlas of the Arab world" when you were looking for world atlases?
The catalog found the "Atlas of the Arab world" because this title contains the two words you were searching for -- "Atlas of the Arab world". The catalog did not know that you wanted these words to appear next to each other in the title.
Phrase searching allows you to tell the catalog to search for two or more words together in a title.
Try searching for "world atlas" again, but this time click on "as a phrase" in the box to the right of the "Search for:" box.
Click the "Search" button.
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The next screen displays the results of your search.
Using the scrollbar on the catalog panel, scroll down to the middle of the screen to view your results.
Your search for "world atlas" as a phrase in the Title field found 11 books. Notice that all of the titles contain the words "world atlas" together.
The catalog description for each title gives you the information you need to find the book in the library. Look at the catalog description for Item No. 1. The description is divided into 6 different categories:
To see the full catalog description for a book (including publication information, subjects, and any notes about the book), click on the title of the book.
For an explanation of the full catalog description of a book, click here.
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To continue the tutorial choose one of the following options:
Advanced Search topics:
Keyword Anywhere Search
Author Name Search
Title Search
Subject Search
Interpreting Your Results
Copyright © Bellevue Community College Library Media Center
Updated December 5, 2002