Types of Searching
There are three main types of searching that you can use in almost any search tool:
| Type of Search | What It Does |
| Keyword Searching | Searches for a word or phrase everywhere, wherever it may be in the resource. This is the most general kind of searching you can do. |
| Known Item Searching | Searches for a particular piece of information in a particular field. Use this search when you know the author, title, etc. of what you are looking for. This is the most specific type of searching you can do. |
| Hybrid Searching | Searches for a particular piece of information in conjunction with a keyword to further narrow the search. This type of searching is used, for example, when you know the journal that the article was in but you don't know the title or author. You can search for the title of the journal (known item) and for the article's topic (keyword). |
Let's see how each of these searches works in a variety of searching tools.
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