Simple and Advanced Search

To search library catalogs and bibliographic databases, Citavi offers two kinds of online search: simple and advanced. Most of the time, the simple online search is all you need.

slideshow-icon        Searching Library Catalogs

Simple online search lets you search all fields (which fields this includes varies by information provider). You can also search for a specific author or by title. You can also restrict the year range.

Advanced online search lets you search all available fields individually. You can enter search terms in multiple fields and group them with parentheses and operators. This option lets you create very precise searches.

Different information providers offer different search options. One might only offer search by keyword and author, while another offers a dozen fields. Some information providers permit wildcards (for example, democra* für democrat, democracy, democratic, etc) while others don't.

hmtoggle_plus1 Performing a Simple Online Search

  1. In the Reference Editor on the toolbar, click Online search.
  2. Add additional catalogs or databases by referring to Selecting Information Providers.
  3. Select the checkboxes for the sources you want to search.
  4. Enter your search term.
    • To find works on a subject, type keywords into the All fields field.
    • To find works by an author, type the name into the Author field.
    • To restrict to a span of time, click to select the appropriate Year range.
  1. Click Search to begin the search. You can cancel the search if you are receiving too many results.
  2. Select the checkboxes next to the search results you want to add to your project. If you want to add them all, you can skip this step.
  3. Click Add to project. A dialog with options appears. Choose the appropriate options and click OK.
  4. The search results are applied as a selection. When you are done looking over them, click Cancel selectionto show all references.

hmtoggle_plus1 Performing an Advanced Online Search

  1. In the Reference Editor on the toolbar, click Online search and then click Go to advanced search.
  2. Add additional catalogs or databases by referring to Selecting Information Providers.
  3. Select the checkboxes for the sources you want to search.
  4. Select a field to search (for example, in PubMed, the MeSH Terms field) and type your search term (for example, measles).
  5. Add more fields if necessary (for example, in PubMed, another MeSH Terms field for disease outbreaks und Year, um Literatur aus dem Year 2010 zu finden).
  6. Type parentheses and select Boolean operators (AND, NOT, or OR) to structure the search logic if necessary.
  7. Click Search to begin the search. You can cancel the search if you are receiving too many results.
  8. Select the checkboxes next to the search results you want to add to your project. If you want to add them all, you can skip this step.
  9. The search results are applied as a selection. When you are done looking over them, click Cancel selectionto show all references.

Examples of Advanced Searches

  • PubMed:
    MeSH terms = measles AND MeSH terms = disease outbreaks AND (year = 2008 OR year = 2009 OR year = 2010)