OneSearch Tips for Literature Research

1. If the title is more than one word, put the title of the poem in quotation marks, followed by the author's last name.

Example Searches:

• "Let America be America Again" Hughes 
• "The Raven" Poe
• "O Captain! My Captain!" Whitman

2. To get more specific results, try adding terms like analysis, criticism, interpretation, history, or biography to either the author's name or the title.

Example Searches Using This Tip:

• Langston Hughes (analysis OR criticism) 
• "The Raven" poe (analy* OR criti*) 
• Edgar Allan Poe (biography OR history)

Tip:
Use the filters (limiters) on the left side of your search results in OneSearch to narrow down your results more effectively.

If you can't find useful results in about 30 minutes, please reach out to a librarian!

Parentheses ( ):

Use around keywords with OR to expand your search. This helps you find results with any of the listed terms.

• Example: free speech (campus OR university OR college)

This searches for combinations like free speech campus, free speech university, and free speech college—all in one search.

Quotation Marks " ":

Use around phrases for an exact phrase search. This narrows your results to sources with the words in that exact order.

• Example: "social media"

Asterisk *:

Use as a wildcard to search for all endings of a word root. This expands your results.

• Example: child*

This finds terms like child, children, childhood, etc.