Search Strategies
When searching for an individual, organization, or movement, here are a few tips:
- Try searching names in quotation marks, for example, "Dolores Huerta." In a phrase search, quotation marks act like glue, keeping individual words connected.
- Double-check spelling. Any errors in a phrase search will likely give you 0 results back in your search.
- Search by different names if your individual, organization, or movement has gone by other names in the past. This is particularly helpful when searching newspaper and archival content. Consider last name changes and initials for individuals, and organization name changes and acronyms for organizations.
- Save time using Boolean operators. AND adds terms to your search (and narrows your results), while OR expands your results by including synonyms.
For example, to find information about the organization that is now the United Farm Workers of America, it might be helpful to search its full name, short name, acronym, and the names and acronyms of the organizations that merged to form it:
"United Farm Workers of America" OR "United Farm Workers " OR UFW OR "United Farm Workers Union" OR "Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee" OR AWOC OR "National Farm Workers Association" OR NFWA
If you're interested in this organization and immigration, you can use Boolean strategies to run a search looking for any of these names with the term immigration:
("United Farm Workers of America" OR "United Farm Workers " OR UFW OR "United Farm Workers Union" OR "Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee" OR AWOC OR "National Farm Workers Association" OR NFWA) AND immigration
- Use sources you've already found to find more. Skim through the reference list to find related sources, or see who cited a source after it was published. Learn more on this guide to finding related sources.
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