When searching in the library catalog or in a database it is important to notice a few key features.
Catalog Search: Known Item
Using the home page, you will see the main search feature for the catalog, for a known item you can do a simple search. This will automatically search the entire Gateway catalog, including online materials and physical items.
Search:

Results:
Narrowing Results: To narrow down an item search, toggle the different fields on the left side bar. For example, if you are looking for the novel, online click on "Online", or if you are looking for reviews of the book, under resource type, select "Reviews".

Article Search: Databases
When you are looking for a item related to a topic, but you don't have an article in mind, you may want to try several strategies. You can search in the main catalog search, but it likely will not pull up every relevant articles that the library has access to, so searching in individual databases may yield more results.
Catalog Results:

CINTAL Full Text Database Search:

Subject Search: Unlike google or search engines, the databases will not find results for questions. You will need to thing about search terms in order to find relevant resources. For example in a science class you maybe searching for research on genetics, so you might input "Genetics" AND "Research".
Boolean Operators: Using AND, OR, and NOT may help you broaden or narrow you focus topic. (See hand out)