Division of Library Services

You can search very easily in Primo Search. Just type one or more words you are looking for and click the Search button.

Note: Primo Search assumes that you are searching for all the words you type unless OR or NOT are not specified between the words and phrases.

Once you are familiar with the basic Primo Search, you might want to try doing more with the Search panel or use the Advanced Search option. Both of these options offer numerous features for making your searches more precise and enable you to get results that are more useful.

• Using a Phrase Search
• Using OR
• Using NOT
• Grouping Terms
• Using a Truncation Symbol
• Using a Wildcard
• What Am I Searching?
• Finding Items on Subject Reserve
• Refining Your Search

Using a Phrase Search

Use quotation marks to search for a phrase.

Example

"global warming"
"higher education"
"change management"

Tip! If you do not use quotation marks, the system will search for your words separately.

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Using OR

Use OR between terms to search for either term.

Example

TV OR Television
University OR College
Medical OR Health

Tip! Enter OR in uppercase, otherwise the system will see it as part of your search.

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Using NOT

Use NOT to exclude terms from your search.

Example

Film NOT Photography
Radiation NOT Nuclear
Stress NOT Metal

Tip! Enter NOT in uppercase, otherwise the system will see it as part of your search.

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Grouping Terms

Group terms that you wish to search for together in brackets.

Example

(heart OR cardiac) nursing
(youth OR adolescent OR teenager) AND bullying
(business OR corporate) responsibility

Tip! Enter OR in uppercase, otherwise the system will see it as part of your search.

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Using a Truncation Symbol

Use a truncation symbol to perform a multiple character wildcard search or find variations in word endings.

Example

P*ediatric = pediatric, paediatric
Nurs* = nurse, nursing, nurses
Manag* = manage, manager, management, managing

Tip! The truncation symbol is an asterisk *.

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Using a Wildcard

Use a wildcard to replace a letter within a word.

Example

Wom?n = woman, women
Organi?ation= organisation, organization
Analy?e= analyze, analyse

Tip! The wildcard symbol is a question mark ?.

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What Am I Searching?

Choose an option to search with a specific library collection.

Example

Search All: - Search across all of the library's collections in Primo Search

Books, journals, DVDs & more: Choose this to find books, eBooks, audio-visual materials, journals by title, selected internet resources and reserve items.

Articles: Choose this to search for the journal articles, newspaper articles and other resources indexed on Primo Central

CSU Research Output (CRO) Choose this to search for CSU research materials held on the CRO database.

Tip! These options could be radio buttons, or in a drop down menu, depending which web page you are searching from.

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Finding Items On Subject Reserve

To find items that are on reserve for your subject, enter the subject code into the search box. If you do this on the Library homepage you can highlight the Subject Reserve tab.

Example

Tip! Enter the code without spaces e.g. PSY101 not PSY 101.

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Refining Your Search

Use the drop down boxes under your search terms in Primo Search to refine your search.

Example

That contain my query words	Anywhere in the record
With my exact phrase	In the title
Starts with	As author
	In subject

Tip! Use a combination of search scope options and refining options to help find a particular title or author.

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