When researching a question, search for the most important keywords.
E.g. "What are common side effects of radiation therapy in breast cancer patients?"
Keywords: side effects, radiation therapy, breast cancer
Use Boolean operators to modify your search.
Boolean Operators
AND OR NOT
AND will narrow your search results:
"prostate cancer" AND radiation
OR will expand your search results:
"radiation therapy" OR radiotherapy
NOT will exclude certain results:
cancer NOT thyroid
Use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase, e.g. "radiation therapy." This will help you find more specific results.
Example:
radiation therapy: 1,429,712 results
"radiation therapy": 829,477 Results
Use an asterisk (*) to truncate keywords. For example,
musc*
will find results containing the words...
muscle, muscular,musculoskeletal, etc.
Primo locates results in databases like those listed below. Often the articles contained in databases are available as PDF or HTML files that will open in your Internet browser or a PDF application like Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can explore all of our databases at the A-Z Databases list.
Optional Resources
NOTE: SUNY Erie students and employees may request articles that are not available in the college's databases.