Tripod Catalog: A How-To Guide (BMC)

Tripod allows you to specify which types of materials you would like to see in your search results.

Books + Media - The default search; returns results from the library catalog (but not from article databases).

Books + Media + Articles - Returns results from the library catalog as well as select major article databases* and publishers (e.g. JSTOR, Web of Science). See the Finding Articles page for more information.

*Find other resources on your topic through our Research Guides or in Subject Specific Databases.

Tripod's various search modes allow you to perform different kinds of targeted searches.

Browse / Starts With - Returns an alphabetical list of entries that lead to results of related catalog records; recommended for title searching

Journal Search - Searches for journal volumes by title or ISSN (e.g. Nature, Journal of Social Policy)

Advanced Search - Allows for greater specificity with additional criteria not available with a simple search

• Drop leading articles like "The" and "A" from title searches (e.g. for The Bluest Eye search Bluest Eye).
• For a topic search, less is more. Include only keywords that describe your main ideas, and avoid using whole sentences.
• Use () to group terms within a single search, such as Shakespeare AND (tragedy OR sonnet).
• Use AND to connect terms that are related to your topic but not part of a phrase (e.g. honey bees AND communication).
• Use " " for exact phrase searching (e.g. "climate change").