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HLTH 205: Introduction to Health Promotion

health studies

When Should I Search Omni?

  • You are starting your research and want to assess the resources available on your topic
  • You want to find resources in a variety of formats (i.e. books and articles)
  • You are searching for articles on an interdisciplinary topic, where information could be found in various databases
  • You are looking for an exact known item
  • A comprehensive article search is not required

Finding Books

Search Omni to find books, journals, videos, and other materials owned by the Library.  You can search by keywords, author, title or subject headings.

Basic Searching

The default search in Omni is basic search. Enter one or more keywords into the Omni search box.

Basic search supports using Boolean operators: AND, OR or NOT.

Apply Boolean operators to focus results:

  • AND is assumed between words. (AND must be in capitals). For example, maternal AND infant health 
  • Quotations for phases. For example, "health promotion" 
  • OR between related words (OR must be in capitals). For example, vaping OR E-cigarettes
  • Asterisk for alternate word endings. For example, program* will find program, programs, programme, programmes, programming
  • Brackets to group terms. For example, "health promotion" AND ("electronic cigarettes" OR E-cigarettes OR vaping) 

Once you have located a book of interest through a title, author or keyword search, if a subject heading(s) describes what you are looking for, click on it to find additional items on your topic or use the subject headings for other words to use in your keyword searches.

You can fine-tune your results by using the filters on the left side of the screen.

Advanced Searching

Advanced Search enables additional techniques for narrowing results. You can apply Boolean operators and:

  • Limit words and phrases to a specific field such as title or subject
  • Identify the format you want such as books or articles
  • Select the language you prefer
  • Set a date range

Ebooks

The Library subscribes to a large number of ebook packages. Access to ebooks varies. Some ebooks can be viewed by only one user at a time, while others can be viewed by multiple users at once. 

There are several ways to find ebooks at Queen's. Most collections have individual book records in Omni, but you can also search e-book collections directly by searching the Database page.