Search tips

Databases

Quick search looks for a name or keywords in every database you tick. Advanced search searches one database by field: location, career, education, birth and more. Pick the database from the Advanced search tab or from the navigator on the left.

• Marquis Biographies Online: men and women in all fields of endeavor, including the American History biographies.
• Who’s Who in American History: the most noteworthy people from our past, from Benjamin Franklin to Ronald Reagan, mostly Americans with some world notables.
• Who’s Who in American Art: today’s visual art world, including artists, critics, curators, administrators, librarians, historians, collectors, conservators, educators and dealers.
• Who’s Who in American Politics: today’s most relevant figures in American politics, with a list of political positions such as governors, ambassadors and US Court of Appeals judges.

The other databases (America, the World, Science and Engineering, Medicine and Healthcare, American Women) use the full advanced form.

General tips

No results, or too many

• If your search is too specific, remove some of the typed fields and keep the lists (state, country, degree…).
• If your search is too general, add details such as a city or state.
• Unsure of a name? Tick Match last names that start with what I typed, or type the start of a name followed by *. For Joe, Joseph or Joey Smith, enter last name Smith and first name Jo*.

Be specific

Names, cities and states can match more than one person. For people living in Newark, New Jersey, enter both Newark as the city and NJ as the state; otherwise you may also get Newark, Delaware.

Synonyms

The search recognizes many synonyms and nicknames. A search for Bob also finds Robert, and state names and their abbreviations match each other. If you are looking for doctors, also try physician.

Check your spelling

If you type Broklyn instead of Brooklyn, the search won’t find any matches.

Capitals and punctuation

Searches are not case sensitive: New York, new york and NeW YoRk give the same results. Punctuation doesn’t change the results either: Good-bye finds good bye and Chatterly’s finds Chatterlys.

How many results you can see

A search reports how many biographies it found, and you can review the first 2,500 of them. If there are more, add criteria to narrow your search.

Wildcards, and, or

Wildcards

Use a wildcard in names and keywords to stand for letters you don’t know: * stands for any number of characters and ? for exactly one. Put at least two letters before the wildcard.

Several words in Keywords

• All words must appear. Harvard Yale (or Harvard and Yale) finds people with both Harvard and Yale anywhere in their biography. The words don’t need to be next to each other: skeet shooting also finds “skeet and trap shooting”.
• Or between two words accepts either: Harvard or Yale finds people with Harvard, Yale or both.
• Parentheses are not used. To combine, type the required words and put or between alternatives: law Harvard or Yale finds biographies that mention law and either Harvard or Yale.

Alternatives in place and interest fields

City, country, zip or postal code, birth place, and hobbies match the words you type as a phrase. To accept several values, separate them with a slash: city Trenton / Newark, zip 12340 / 54321.

Field by field

Last name

Spaces are ignored: Mc Donald is the same as McDonald.

First name

Some people are listed under a nickname (Billy Bob Thornton), others under a formal name (William Jefferson Clinton). If you can’t find someone, try the formal name (William instead of Billy) or a shorter one (Bob instead of Robert).

City

Cities with the same name exist in several states, so search by city and state. Common abbreviations match the full word: St and Saint, Ft and Fort, Pt and Point, Bch and Beach, Pk and Park, Lk and Lake, Is and Island, Mt and Mount, and N, S, E, W for North, South, East, West.

State or province, Country

Choose one from the list. Every address in a biography is searched, but the results list shows only one address, so some people may not seem to match until you open their biography.

Zip or postal code

Enter a US zip code or a foreign postal code. Separate several codes with a slash.

Occupation

Type an occupation, such as psychologist or educator. It is searched in the occupation and in every job of the career history.

Company or organization

Searches the organizations in the career history. With an occupation, both must belong to the same job: occupation editor and organization Time.

Gender

Some biographees have not supplied their gender, and we don’t guess. A search on gender may miss them.

Birth year, Graduation year

Enter a from year, a to year, or both. Use the same year in both boxes for one exact year. Graduation year matches the year of any degree in the biography.

Birth place

Enter a city, state or country. For the most accurate results, search by city and state, written out: Springfield, Massachusetts.

College or university, Degree

Choose a degree from the list or type one. The degree and the college combine: BS with Harvard finds people whose BS is from Harvard.

Political affiliation, Religion

Choose one from the list. If yours isn’t listed, type it in Keywords.

Keywords

Searches the whole biography: awards, career, certifications, civic work, creative works, military service, memberships and more.

Abbreviations and synonyms

Biographies use synonyms (attorney, lawyer) and abbreviations (rschr for researcher). Use several words with or, or a wildcard, to catch them. The table of abbreviations lists the abbreviations used in the biographies.

Keywords also reach parts of a biography that have no field of their own:

Achievements

Discoveries, patents, inventions, research and historical firsts.

Awards

Awards, grants, fellowships, honors and military decorations, with the granting body and year. Awards for a creative work, such as an Academy Award, are listed with that work.

Career and career related

Positions, organizations, places and years, plus consulting, teaching and adjunct positions.

Certifications

Law, medical, teaching and professional certifications, such as CPA.

Civic

Volunteer positions with public, community or charitable organizations, such as the Salvation Army.

Creative works

Artistic, literary, film, theater and music work, with the role, title and year.

Military

Military service of civilians: rank, unit, branch, place and years. Career officers have it under Career.

Memberships

Clubs, lodges, professional and honor societies, fraternities and sororities, such as IEEE or Rotary.

Who’s Who in American History

The form has name, keywords, occupation, organization and birth place. Name fields work as described above.

• Birth place: write the state out (Springfield, Massachusetts). When a city is also known by an abbreviation, try each form with a slash: N.Y.C. / New York City / New York, New York.
• Keywords find events and movements: Harpers Ferry, 15th Amendment, Pony Express, Know Nothing.

Who’s Who in American Art

• Last name: spaces are ignored (de Kooning is DeKooning). Artists known by one name, such as Man Ray, are found by last name only.
• First name: some artists use a nickname (N.C. Wyeth, Andy Warhol), others a formal name (Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth).
• Occupation: type a profession or medium, such as curator, collector or sculptor. Use or for several.
• Deceased: choose Yes or No to search only deceased or only living artists, or Any for both.
• Keywords examples: National Endowment Arts grant, National Medal of Arts, Joslyn Art Museum.

Who’s Who in American Politics

• Last name: spaces are ignored (Mc Cain is McCain).
• First name: some politicians are listed by nickname (Henry C. “Hank” Johnson), others by formal name. Try both: Dick and Richard.
• Occupation: choose a political position from the list, or a general occupation such as political personality.
• Keywords examples: Department of Defense, Secretary, Administrator, White House.

Sample searches

All of these use the advanced form of Marquis Biographies Online.

Working with results

• Select a column heading to sort, for example by occupation. Select it again to reverse the order.
• In a biography, the words that matched your search are highlighted.
• Select words in a biography, then Search selected text to search for them in all your databases.
• Modify search brings back your form as you filled it in; Clear form starts again.
• Your search history keeps the searches from this visit, to run or change again.
• Print prints the biography alone, without the menus.