DiscoverUR Search Tips (River Campus Libraries)

The Search & Navigation Bar in Articles, Books & More contains the main search box, where you can add keywords, and other links to additional functionality, such as an Advanced Search option. Check below for detailed explanations.

A -  Main Search Box

• Add your keywords here. You can combine the different terms using Boolean Operators.
• If you are searching for a known item (you know the Title, Author or Citation), check our Search for a Known Item section for additional tips.
• Click the star inside the search box to save your keywords temporarily (a Google or Microsoft account is required to save them permanently) or click the "X" icon to erase them.
• Click on the New Search link to start a new search from scratch or the Advanced link to access the Advanced Search options.
• Click the star outside of the box to access your saved searches (Google or Microsoft account required).

B - Drop down menu for searching different parts of Discover UR

• Articles, Books and more - discover all materials accessible to UR
• Library Catalog - search only for UR library holdings
• E-Resources - search only for materials held in digital format
• Course reserves - search for course code, name or instructor
• Research Guides - search for terms, databases names etc. to locate relevant research guides

C - DiscoverUR's main menu

• New search will clear out all previous search terms and limiters so you can start anew
• Databases A-Z allows you to search for a database by name
•  Journal Title Search allows you to search for the name of a journal or newspaper
• Search By Citations allows you to search for a resource using citation information
• Ellipse - click on the  icon to see more options like connecting to Interlibrary Loan (ILL) or browse by author, title, Call Number or series

D - Sign in allows you to see restricted materials available only to UR students, faculty and staff. If you don’t sign in you’ll see materials available to guest users. You’ll also be able to save searches and personalize your search experience.

E - Menu 

• Display the interface in another language (i.e. Deutsch, French, Italiano or Traditional Chinese).
• Library Card
• RefWorks 
• My Favorites - look at your list of favorite records you pinned by clicking the icon  or view your recent search history

F - Sign-in Recommendation. If you are off-campus, we highly recommend that you sign-in to see all the results available to you. Clicking the X will close this notification.

• Search phrases using quotation marks
  • example:  "to be or not to be"
  • "computational linguistics" will return exact matches on "computational linguistics", but not "linguistics and computational chemistry" or "computational chemistry and linguistics"
  • If the query is issued as a phrase search with double quotes (i.e., "man of the year"), Summon returns results containing the exact phrase "man of the year".
• Combine words with AND, OR, and NOT in capital letters (called boolean operators).  If you search for: microcircuits OR nanocircuits  – DiscoverUR will display results that contain either term. Search for: microcircuits AND nanocircuits – DiscoverUR will display only results that contain both terms.  Search microcircuits NOT nanocircuits – DiscoverUR will display only results that contain the term microcircuits, but does not mention nanocircuits.
• Complex searches may combine elements--in which case, use parentheses around like terms that are strung together with the OR operator.  For example:  homeless AND (healthcare OR "health care") AND (adolescents OR "young adults")
• Substitute * for several possible letters
  • example:   cultur*  will find culture, cultural, and culturally. Using * at the beginning of your search terms will be ignored (e.g. *aying will search for aying)
• Substitute ? for one letter within a word
  • example:  Ols?n to find Olsen or Olson, but it will not find Olsson because there are two characters between the "s" and the "n" in that name. Using ? at the beginning of your search terms will be ignored (e.g. ?aying will search for aying)
• Stop Words
  • DiscoverUR's current English stop words include "a", "an", "the", "and", "but", "or", "it", "of", "on", "with", "in", "is" and "are", but do not include "will" since it has a common secondary meaning as a noun.
  • Stop words will be omitted from keyword searches (e.g. if a user searches for the adventures of huckleberry finn, DiscoverUR will locate results with the three terms: adventures, huckleberry, and finn).
• Proximity
  DiscoverUR uses a sophisticated algorithm that expands and alters queries so that the results are relevant to the user's search. If you search for: honey bee communication – DiscoverUR treats the entire query as a phrase and returns results in which all of the words are in close proximity.  Searching honey bee AND communication – DiscoverUR treats honey bee and communication as separate phrases and returns results in which the phrase communication may not be in close proximity with the words in the other phrase.

Multiple items can be saved using the pin icon .  Items you pin will be save to your My Favorites list.  If you're logged in, pinned items in My Favorites will be save permanently.  If you are not logged in, pinned items will be saved for the duration of your current search session.

To pin a single item, click on the pin icon next to the item.  To unpin the item and remove it from your My Favorites list, click the pin icon again.

To pin multiple items, check the box next to each item in your results list that you'd like to add to your My Favorites list.  A notification will appear at the top of your screen with the number of items you've selected. Once you've selected your items, click the pin icon in the notification to add them to your My Favorites list.

View your My Favorites list by clicking on the "Go to My Favorites" pin icon in the upper right corner of your screen, this pin icon will remain viewable in the upper right corner even when you scroll down.