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Help Topics
Searching | Search Results | Email, Print or Save Your Selections | BRAINlinks Directory (Browse by Subject)

Searching
1. How do I perform a Basic Search?
Enter your search terms in the search box.
If you want your words to be found side by side enter them side by side without quotation marks. For example, a search on prevention strategies will find the phrase "prevention strategies". If you were to enter strategies prevention however the search would most likely result in zero hits because the system is looking for these two terms side by side and the likelihood of finding them side by side is not high.
If you don't need to have your terms found side by side, enter them separated by an ampersand (&). The & stands for AND. For example, to look for resources about strategies and prevention, enter: strategies & prevention.
Use / to perform an OR search. For example, to find resources about either college or university, enter: college / university. You will find resources about only college and about only university but also resources about both college and university.
Note: The OR search finds more results than the AND search because OR finds resources about either term and AND finds resources about both terms only. In our example, a search on college OR university finds resources about college, resources about university and resources about college and university; meanwhile a search on college AND university finds resources only about both institutions.
Use w3 for words within a set number of each other. For example, import w3 coal finds the word "import" up to 3 words away from the word "coal".
Use * to truncate your search word. Put the asterisk at the end of the word to find all variations of that word. For example, Canad* finds Canada, Canadiana and Canadians.

An example of searching for university OR college with /

2. How do I perform an Advanced Search?
To perform an Advanced Search, click on the Advanced Search link beneath the Basic Search box. The Advanced Search lets you search by title, subject, keywords, or resource type (resource types describe type of content for example directory, government information, etc.). You can also specify that your results contain only Canadian Content, or that your results are only BRAINpicks or Scholarly Sites. Note that you can enter search information in only one box or in many boxes. You can also check off one box or more than one box. The more search terms you enter or boxes you check however the less hits you will get as this refines or limits your search.
Here is what all of these things mean:

Subjects	Subjects are predefined topics that the Library has selected to help you to refine your search. For a list of all of the subjects we've used see the Browse List on the Basic Search page or click the Pick List on the Advanced Search page to choose a subject.
Keywords	Keywords are words that describe the content of a web site. Unlike Subjects, they do not originate from any pre-defined list.
Resource Types	Resource Types describe the format or type of information included in a web resource. Some examples are electronic books, directories and government information. Click the Pick List to choose a Resource Type.
Canadian Content	Check off this box to find only sites that contain Canadian information (information about Canada or by Canadians.)
BRAINpicks	These are sites that we've selected as the "cream of the crop" or the best sites out there on a broad subject. While all of the sites in our collection are hand-picked for their excellence, BRAINpicks are the sites we, in the Library, use the most and recommend.
Scholarly Sites	These are sites that have scholarly information. For example, a scholarly site may contain peer-reviewed information, white papers published by think tanks or government reports of a high academic level. These are recommended for your indepth research projects.

Search Results
Once you have performed a search, a list of web resources matching your search term(s) displays. For more information about the web resources in your result list, select the Full Description link. To go directly to a resource in your result list, click on the title or the URL. For each result, a short description gives you brief information. Icons such as a Canadian flag, BRAINpick label or mortarboard indicate if the site is Canadian, recommended or scholarly.

Checkboxes: Within the BRAINlinks database, you can select web resources to add to your list. You can then email, print or save your list. Click on a box next to a desired resource to make a selection. Then click the View Selections link to view your selections and email, print or save them. Keep in mind that resources are not saved permanently. Once you leave the web site, your selections are are not saved.

Email, Print or Save Your Selections
Want to keep track of the resources you have found, save them to look at later or email them to yourself or others? It's a breeze in BRAINlinks! Simply check off the resources you want to keep by clicking on the checkbox next to the desired items. Then, select the link View Selections. Scroll to the bottom of the View Selections screen to verify what you have selected. You can remove any items you no longer want before emailing, printing or saving. You can also remove all of your selections, by clicking the Remove All button.

Email: To email your selections, enter an email address in the Email To box. If you'd like to CC or BCC your email to anyone you can enter those email addresses in the appropriate boxes as well. You can change the Email Subject Line if you wish also. Then, select the Email button. Note: If you want to return to searching and select more resources to email, click the Save button. This will save the information you have entered so that you don't have to enter it again later. This information is saved for your current session only!

The View Selections screen with email options highlighted.



Save: Select "Download Brief Selections" or "Download Full Selections" from the Save Format drop-down menu. Click the Save button (in the row of buttons at the bottom of the form (next to Email and Print). The "Brief Selections" format contains the title, URL and a brief description of each resource. The "Full Selections" format contains the title, URL, creator of the resource, a brief description and subjects covered by the resource.

Print: Select "Format Brief Selections" or "Format Full Selections" from the Print Format menu. Click the Print button (in the row of buttons at the bottom of the form (next to Email and Save). The "Brief Selections" format contains the title, URL and a brief description for each resource. The "Full Selections" format contains the title, URL, creator of the resource, a brief description and subjects covered by the resource.

Note that you can also record comments or notes in the Comments box. These comments will be included in the email or saved or printed document.

BRAINLinks Directory (Browse by Subject)
The BRAINLinks Directory is a list of sites that have been hand-selected and categorized by Library @ Mohawk staff. Each web resource has been carefully evaluated and then even more carefully catalogued so that you can find the best possible information quickly and easily! The subject categories were specially selected to reflect the diverse interests, courses and programs taught at Mohawk College. Unlike other directories on the Internet, the BRAINLinks directory has been specially formulated for our specific community.

How do we pick the sites?
When we are considering a resource for inclusion in our collection, we evaluate using the following criteria:

What about copyright?
The webmaster of every site in the BRAINLinks collection has been sent an email to ask for permission to include the site. If the webmaster did not wish his/her web site included, we did not include it.

How do I get my site included in BRAINLinks?
If you would like your site included, send it to us and we will evaluate it for inclusion.

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