Once you have some keywords associated with your topic AND you have found appropriate search tools/databases, you are ready to begin searching. Here are some basic search strategies to consider.
1. Look for a phrase by using quotation marks. This will make your search more specific. e.g. "Civil Rights Movement"; "freedom of speech"
2. Generate more results by joining synonyms or closely related terms together with OR. Remember OR means mORe.
Example: feminist OR women OR gender
3. Narrow results by adding dissimilar terms with AND.
Example: "civil disobedience" AND poverty
4. Use the asterisk (in many search tools) to truncate a term. This will look for different endings of the same word. e.g. defin* will search for define, defines, definition, definitive, etc.
5. Once completing a search, scan the results for other terms or phrases you may not have initially discovered. e.g. Searching for behavior principles may bring up cultural sensitivity.
6. View Subjects if available. These may also be called descriptors. These subjects are assigned to describe the citation/article. For example a descriptor in Academic Search Complete is Capitalism & Ecology.
