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LANG 1002 - English for University Studies I : PowerSearch

PowerSearch Basic Searching

Using PowerSearch

Use PowerSearch (https://lbdiscover.hkust.edu.hk) to find out what the Library has and where things are. 

Go to the PowerSearch Guide to learn more details.

Click the thumbnail to see a demo on the PowerSearch - your one-stop info search

Basic Searching

Title

All Library materials (books, journals, sound/video recordings, etc.) can be searched by their titles. Examples

  • Articles at the beginning of the title such as "a", "an" and "the" can be omitted.
  • You can enter just the first few words of the title, such as "lion the witch" instead of the full title, "The lion, the witch and the wardrobe".

Call Number

  • A call number is assigned to every library item except newspapers.
  • The number represents the subject of the item, and is also the shelving number in most cases.
  • Use the EXACT call number (e.g., HD9696.8.U64 G66647 2014 ) to retrieve the item you want. A partial call number (e.g., HD9696) finds materials on similar topics.

Subject

  • "Subjects" are standardized terms assigned to describe the content of library items.
  • You must use the exact subject term to do a successful subject search. Example:
    A subject search for "mobile phones" finds nothing because the proper subject term is "cell phones".
  • Try Word/Phrase search if you do not know the exact subject terms, then identify appropriate subject terms from the retrieved records.

Click the thumbnail to see a demo on Advanced searching in PowerSearch

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