General searching tips

1. Before you start, draw up a chart or list of possible search terms.
2. Make sure you include English search terms.
3. Search for the references or quotations from a familiar, relevant publication.
4. If you are looking for a specific title, copy and paste the ISBN (book) or ISSN (journal) with or without hyphens into the search box
5. In addition to the library search engine Discover, you should at least use Scopus or Web of Science to find journal articles.
6. Use advanced search options, such as Boolean searches, searching in specific fields, truncation, wild cards or searching for whole sentences. Use the search engine Help function to see what options are available.
7. Found too much? Restrict your search to more specific terms or add the year of publication (remember that the latest results are not necessarily the best).
8. Found too little? Use fewer search terms and/or alternative spellings or synonyms, other languages, plurals or singulars.
9. Found nothing at all? And it is not a spelling mistake? Try a different database or search engine. Contact us by e-mail, chat or telephone for assistance. Or come along in person!
10. Visit TUlib for additional tips and tutorials.

Searching tips for Discover

Discover – the TU Delft Library search engine – includes both the paper collection and an ever-increasing portion of the library's online collection. Discover has a simple but smart search box that you will find on the top right of every webpage.

Search options in Discover

See the overview of search tips for more options and examples.