One of the best ways to get started exploring UVU's books, databases, documentaries, and more is by making sure you know exactly what you're looking for. Sometimes more specificity is better. For example, you can find quite a few resources on Frank Lloyd Wright. But if you're only interested in his early works, many of the results you return won't be relevant to your topic. Starting off with a good idea of what you want to find will help you achieve success in finding it!
If you're having trouble narrowing down your topic, you may have luck trying to rephrase it as a specific question. Instead of saying "I want to look for information about Frank Lloyd Wright's early work," try phrasing it as "what inspired Frank Lloyd Wright's earlier works?" Treating your topic as a question can help you better understand what you're looking for.
You can also try doing a broad search like "early work of Frank Lloyd Wright" and use the results to inspire you. Sometimes seeing an article about the history of a subject or recent applications of a style can pique your interest and guide you toward a more fulfilling research experience.
If you're interested in Fulton Library's shelves for our Architecture holdings, you'll want to know that the LOC classification for Architecture is NA. This means that books about Architecture will be on the fourth floor. If you need help finding them, please ask a librarian - we're happy to help!
The foundation of any successful search is knowing how to word what you're looking for. Academic search engines such as OneSearch don't work like Google. There are special considerations to keep in mind when you're typing in your search terms. One of the most important concepts is that of boolean operators. Boolean operators tell the computer how to read your search query, and are used instead of typing in your full research question. Below are some example of booleans you might use when creating a search phrase (and, of course, how to use them):
Boolean operators are pretty simple. The function is often clear in the name. For example, as you might have guessed, AND is used to tell the database you want to return results for more than one word or term, as opposed to returning results that match only part of your search query. ex: UNStudio AND Hanwha. This will return only results that mention both UNStudio and Hanwha. You can also link more than two terms together. ex: "Oscar Niemeyer" AND Modern AND concrete. Notice the quotation marks around "Oscar Niemeyer." This tells the database to search for that exact phrase. Place quotation marks around phrases with two or more words.
The OR feature lets the database know that it can return results related to one search term or another. OR is especially helpful when you're looking into an idea or concept that may be known by more than one name. If you know a building or structure has been known by different titles at different times, you can create a search term that looks like name a OR name b. You'll get results for both names.
NOT is an especially helpful operator for weeding out results you don't need. When you use NOT, it tells the database you don't want to see certain results. To use NOT, you'll start by putting in the term you'd like to see results for, then add NOT to keep results you don't need from appearing. ex: "Zaha Hadid" NOT "Al Wakrah Stadium"
The use of booleans can save you a lot of time sifting through results that are barely relevant. Please keep these in mind the next time you're looking for a scholarly resources!