Basic Searching
Basic search is the default. Enter keywords and choose the scope (Queen's or Queen's + Omni Libraries). Use Boolean operators: AND, OR or NOT, in uppercase and quotations around phrases(e.g. sondheim OR "lloyd webber").
Advanced Searching
Use the drop-down options to limit words to specific fields (Author, Title, Subject, Call number). Specific dates and languages can be selected.
| Use AND to tell the database that ALL search terms must be present in results. Narrows your search results | musicals AND race |
| Use OR between words for synonyms. Broadens your search results | music AND (theater OR theatre OR drama) |
| Use NOT to exclude terms | musicals AND broadway NOT hollywood |
| Use quotation marks around phrases | "west side story" |
| ? for single character wildcard (useful for variable spellings) | wom?n (for woman, women) |
| * for truncation (multiple character wildcard). Useful for variant endings of a root word. | "music theat*" (for different spellings) |
| brackets to group terms (nested searching) | opera AND (inuit OR "first nations" OR metis OR indigenous) |
Use "Journal Search" in the top ribbon to locate specific titles.
In the relevant record in your search results, click on the title of the journal. From there you can access the full text (if the journal is online) and also search inside for articles within the journal, directly from the record:
Omni offers a number of useful tools that you can use to organize, save, and cite your research. Log into Omni to get the maximum use out of tools.
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Citation icon | Select one of ten different citation styles and generate a citation to the item. Be sure to check citations for accuracy |
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Envelope icon | Email a record to the item |
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Pushpin icon | Save this item to your list of favourites in Omni |
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Citation trails | Lead to sources that cite the work or to references cited in the item |
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Ellipsis icon | Shows action options including citation, email, permalink, export to citation managers and print record |
In the right hand corner of Omni, you will see the option to sign in. Signing in optimizes your searchso you can Pin items into a Favourites folder, check loans and requests, renew materials, access full text, view search history, and create alerts.
Omni provides you with three different content collections to search:
Related Reading
Starting from an article of interest, related reading provides other relevant articles for the same topic.
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Virtual Browse
Discover other books at Queen's on the same topic by browsing a virtual book shelf. Available in Omni records for print monographs, scroll to the bottom of the book's record to discover other print monographs that would be shelved with the item.
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