---
title: Basic Search
description: Constructing basic searches
---
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August 2, 2026
# Basic Search
## Learn how to perform basic searches and find relevant information quickly.
**Quick video overview**
Watch the video below for a demonstration of how to perform a basic search.
**Constructing basic searches**
To get started, enter the desired search term into the search bar:
Start with a broad search using relevant key terms. Then refine your results as needed. This is generally more effective than formulating a specific research question.
**Example:** If you're researching treaties for Indigenous peoples of Australia, start with broad search terms such as **treaty Indigenous Australia** or **Indigenous rights Australia**.
When you enter multiple search terms, such as **treaty Indigenous Australia**, the search looks for results containing any of those terms. In other words, it uses the **OR** Boolean operator by default.
That means that the search is processed as **treaty OR Indigenous OR Australia**.
Use Boolean operators such as **AND** or **NOT** to make your search more specific.
**Examples:**
- **treaty AND Indigenous AND Australia** returns results that contain all three terms.
- **treaty AND Indigenous AND Australia NOT Canada** helps you focus on treaty-related topics involving Indigenous peoples in Australia and filters out results related to Canada.
You can narrow your results by selecting one or more **search facets** from the side bar on the left. These facets are available on all search results pages:
The **edit search** button is available under your search query:
The **advanced search** is accessible from either the top navigational bar or to the right of the search box:
Looking to construct more complex searches? Visit the [**Advanced Search Guide**](https://support.informit.org/knowledge-base/advanced-search?hsLang=en).
**Search tips**
Below are some other helpful tips for constructing a search query:
---
**Use the Boolean operator AND to find results that contain all your keywords**
**Examples:**
- Climate change AND Australia
- Depression AND social media
This is useful when your research contains two or more key concepts.
**Note:**
- If you combine a Boolean operator (**AND**, **OR**, or **NOT**) with a multi-word search term (e.g. climate change), Informit automatically inserts **AND** between the words.
For example, a search for **global warming OR climate change** is automatically processed as **global AND warming OR climate AND change**.
---
**Use the Boolean operator OR to find results with similar terms**
**Examples:**
- Teachers OR educators
- Artificial intelligence OR AI
This is useful when searching for alternative words or similar concepts to broaden your search.
---
**Use the Boolean operator NOT to exclude irrelevant results**
**Examples:**
- Diabetes NOT Gestational
- Christianity NOT Catholicism
This is useful when a search term has more than one meaning.
---
**Use double quotation marks “ ” to search for an exact phrase**
Examples:
- “Voice referendum”
- “Shrine of Remembrance”
Using quotation marks ensures that the search retrieves results containing the exact terms in the specified order.
---
**Use parentheses ( ) to group search terms**
Examples:
- Body image AND (teenagers OR adolescents)
This finds results about mental health that also mention either teenagers or adolescents.
---
**Use an asterisk \* to find word variations**
**Example:**
- Religio\*
This may return:
- Religion
- Religions
- Religious
- Religiously
- Religiosity
**Note:**
- To find all records in a field, enter **a\***
---
**Use a question mark ? to replace a single letter**
**Example:**
- Wom?n
This may find:
- Woman
- Women
**Note:**
- Wildcards do not work at the start of a search term;
- Wildcards do not work within quotation marks
---
**Use Match Any, Match All, and Match None**
Use these selectors to include or exclude **Resource Types** and **Media Genres** (if available) from your search results.
**Match Any**
Finds results that contain at least one of the selected terms or filters.
**Example:**
- Under **Resource Type**, select **Match Any** and then select **Journal** and **Conference Proceedings**.
This returns results that are either **Journal articles** or **Conference proceedings**.
**Match All**
Finds results that contain all of the selected terms or filters.
**Example:**
- Under **Resource Type**, select **Match All** and then select **Conference** and **Conference Proceedings**.
This returns only results that are both **Conference** and **Conference Proceedings**.
**Match None**
Excludes results that the contain any of the selected terms or filters.
**Example:**
- Under **Resource Type**, select **Match None** and then select **Video and Sound.**
This excludes all **Video or Sound** resources from your results.
---
**Still Need Help?**
If you have further questions on how to use the basic search, please reach out to us at [support.informit@rmit.edu.au](mailto:support.informit@rmit.edu.au)
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