AskUs: FiNDit Support

FiNDit offers two search interfaces: Basic Search (single box) and Advanced Search. 

Observe the following when designing your search strategy for either interface:

• Look at your search topic and carefully select the key terms (keywords) to use in your search
• Enter your keywords in FiNDit Basic search window.  Unless indicated otherwise, FiNDit will automatically conduct the search linking your keywords with AND.

For example: a search of nursing practice cultural awareness aboriginal will retrieve records containing all of those words.

• If you wish to conduct a phrase search, i.e. retrieve records which contain adjacent keywords, indicate it to FiNDit by placing inverted commas around each phrase.

For example: "nursing practice"  "cultural awareness" aboriginal 

• To ensure that your search strategy captures a wide range or results, include synonyms (alternative keywords) in your search. Make sure to link your synonyms with OR in capital letters and to separate your group of synonyms from other keywords by placing them in parentheses.

For example: "nursing practice"  "cultural awareness" (aboriginal OR Indigenous)

• Exclude unwanted records by using NOT (in capital letters) before the unwanted keyword

For example: "nursing practice"  "cultural awareness" (aboriginal OR Indigenous) NOT maori

Note that Advanced FiNDit search enables you to enter your search criteria into pre-defined fields, e.g. Written/created by..., From this publication..., etc.

CheckLIST: Library Information Skills Toolkit- Module 3 Searching for Information covers the basics of searchingfor information, including choosing the right source, identifying keywords, and employing search techniques.