Search Help

Search Strategies

Build stronger searches across catalogs, databases, Google Scholar, WorldCat, and archives.

DJing is interdisciplinary. Strong searches may require music terms, technology terms, African American studies terms, cultural studies terms, legal terms, and archival terms. Use this page to build better searches in library catalogs, databases, Google Scholar, WorldCat, and archival discovery tools.

Good searching is a skill. Start broad, narrow by discipline or format, use Boolean operators to combine ideas, and follow citations from strong sources to find more.

Keywords by Topic

Keyword Clusters

Use these keyword groups to build targeted searches across databases, catalogs, and discovery tools.

🎧 DJing and Performance

DJing disc jockeys turntablism scratching beatmatching mixing club DJ radio DJ DJ battles live performance sound systems

✊ Hip-Hop and Black Music History

hip-hop culture hip-hop history rap music African American music Black popular music Black cultural expression Bronx hip-hop breakbeats block parties oral history

🎛️ Music Production and Technology

music production sampling remix culture beatmaking digital music electronic music music technology DJ software digital audio workstation AI music generation

⚖️ Copyright and Ownership

music copyright sampling law fair use public domain music music licensing mechanical licensing sound recordings Music Modernization Act intellectual property

🗄️ Archives and Primary Sources

hip-hop archives oral histories flyers mixtapes posters sound recordings radio broadcasts interviews ephemera finding aids special collections
Boolean Searching

Boolean Search Examples

Copy these searches directly into library databases, Google Scholar, or WorldCat.

"DJing" AND "hip-hop culture"
"turntablism" AND "Black music"
"sampling" AND "copyright" AND music
"hip-hop" AND "African American music history"
"remix culture" AND "digital creativity"
"disc jockeys" AND "music technology"
"hip-hop archives" AND "oral history"
"DJ culture" AND "Black music history"
Best Practices

Search Tips

Use Quotation Marks

Use quotation marks for exact phrases, such as "hip-hop culture" or "music copyright." This tells the database to search for those words together rather than separately.

Combine with AND

Use AND to combine concepts: DJing AND copyright. This narrows your results by requiring both terms to appear in the source.

Use OR for Synonyms

Use OR to find sources that use different terms for the same concept: DJ OR "disc jockey". This broadens your search to catch multiple relevant terms.

Use Truncation

Use truncation when available: remix* finds remix, remixes, and remixing. The asterisk (*) replaces the end of a word to catch variations.

Search by Format

Search by format when needed: documentary, interview, archive, oral history, recording, photograph, flyer, mixtape. Many databases allow you to filter by material type.

Use Citation Chaining

Check the works cited sections of strong books and articles. If an article or book is relevant, its sources are also likely relevant. This technique is called citation chaining or citation tracing.

Search WorldCat

Search WorldCat when your library does not own a source. WorldCat locates materials in libraries near you and can initiate interlibrary loan requests.

Ask a Librarian

Ask a librarian when you need help with archives, databases, interlibrary loan, or copyright-sensitive materials. Librarians are subject specialists and can save you significant research time.