1. Utilize appropriate limiters and specific fields.
- date limiter, articles only, title field etc.
2. Use terminology related to your topic.
- from preliminary readings or reference material e.g. books from class, Credo, Oxford Reference
- by skimming through initial search results
- in considering the terminology of the time period
3. Join different terms with AND. Join similar terms with OR.
- gender AND propaganda
- community OR society
4. Use truncation (often *) to look for variations of a term.
- communit* to search for community OR communities
5. Search for a phrase using quotation marks.
- "labor dispute"
- "Pullman strike"
- "social movement"
- "San Joaquin Valley"
6. If you do not retrieve any results,
- broaden your search. This may involve using a more general term or adding a similar term with OR.
- narrow your search. This may involve using more specific terminology or adding another term with AND.
- examine your terminology. Am I using appropriate search terms?
- consider if the database is suitable. Does this database include the content I need?
