Whether searching in the library catalog or some other database, we usually begin a search on a new topic using a keyword search.  Here are some searching tips to keep in mind:

Use AND to combine different or distinct concepts and to narrow your results:
creationism AND evolution
religion AND science AND history
judeo-christian AND natural science

Use OR to search for multiple concepts that are somewhat similar in meaning and to increase your results:

conflict OR dissonance
scripture OR bible
sacred OR spiritual

Use NOT to eliminate a term from your results.  In the library catalog or in MOBIUS, you must type this function as AND NOT:

bioethics AND NOT animals

Use truncation to search for plurals and other variant endings to increase your results:

christian*   retrieves christian, christians, christianity
theolog*     retrieves theology, theologies, theological, theologian

To ensure that certain terms are searched as a phrase, place quotation marks around those terms:

"philosophy of science"
"philosophy of religion"
"scientific reasoning"

Finally, to further tailor your search, you can apply "nesting":

evolution AND religion AND (debate OR argument)
This search will retrieve all records contain both evolution and science and either debate
or argument.  Make sure to use the parentheses around your similar terms when doing
a nested search.