The Basic Search is the default search for the McGill Library WorldCat homepage.
To search an exact phrase, use quotation marks; for example, "liberal party of canada".
To narrow a broad topic, use AND between keywords; for example, "elections" AND Canada.
To broaden a research topic, use OR to search for terms that denote similar concepts; for example, (voting OR elections AND Canada.
To retrieve search results for a word with multiple endings, use the root with an asterix; for example, vote* will retrieve research related to vote, votes, and voting.
AND: Combines two concepts, both will be represented in the results.
Lowers the numbers of results
Ex: Canada AND policy
OR: Joins two concepts or synonyms
Increases the number of results
Ex: policy OR governance
NOT: Removes the results that include the word that follows it
Lowers the numbers of results
Ex: North America NOT United States
* truncation or wildcard: Place at the end of the root of a word and all the words with a different ending will be represented in the results
Use instead of plurals / can also replace a letter
Increases the number of results
Ex: Wom*n = will show results with woman and women. Canad* will show Canada, Canadian, canadien, canadienne, etc…
Find Books, Films, Music and MORE!
The Sofia Library Catalogue searches McGill University's collection of resources, both print and digital:
NOTE: This search EXCLUDES journal articles.
The Interlibrary Loan service (ILL) permits you to borrow documents that are not part of McGill Library’s collection. This service is offered exclusively to McGill professors, current students and staff as part of their teaching, learning, research and work activities at McGill University.
Requesting a document via interlibrary loan is done through the Sofia Discovery Tool.
Consult the Interlibrary Loan web page below for more information on this service.
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