This guide is designed to help you with your short answer questions, discussion posts, and research paper for TECH225, introducing a range of technology and electronics resources available to you.

First, let's look at an example search strategy about Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) in industrial processes. Below, you'll see a sample search in OneSearch for:

• "programmable logic controllers" OR PLC
• "industrial process*" OR "manufacturing process*" OR electronics

Notice the four advanced search strategies I've used. You can use these in any research database and search engines, such as Google, to improve your search results. Try them when searching for the topics in this course and don't hesitate to contact the librarians for help developing a search strategy, citing your sources, etc. We're here to help!

1. Divide your topic into its main ideas and place each idea into a separate search box. Most advanced search interfaces start with two or three search boxes, but you can always add more for more complex topics. In both EBSCO and ProQuest, click the plus sign symbol to add additional search boxes.
2. Use quotation marks around phrases of two or more words to tell the database to search for those words right next to one another. Examples, "programmable logic controllers", "industrial processes", "manufacturing processes", etc.
3. Use the word OR between synonyms and like-terms to tell the database to search for either term. Examples, "industrial processes" OR "manufacturing processes".
4. Use an asterisk (*) at the end of a root word to tell the database to search for all relevant endings to the word. For example, a search for process* will find results about process, processes, processing, etc.

I'd suggest starting your searches in OneSearch or one of the Technology & Electronics Research Databases listed below. Using databases with a technology focus will help you narrow your search to more relevant results. Click on a database name to search.