Always think about different ways to say the same thing. Start with your own keywords to describe your topic, then within results, look at the abstract and subject headings to identify additional keywords to use.
Search Strategies:
use quotes around a phrase
"national monuments" "Twitchell Dam"
"migratory bird treaty act" "clean air act"
"intentional actions" "antiquities act"
"incidental actions" "public trust doctrine"
"social cost of carbon" "climate change"
"clean water act" "national emergencies act"
"due process clause" "southern california steelhead"
use the * to retrieve variations of a word
monument* = monument or monuments
regulation* = regulation or regulations
environment* = environment or environmental or environmentally
"legal right*" = legal right or legal rights
constitution* = constitution or constitutional
combine word/s using connectors.
Use -or- between search terms, the database will search for any of them. This is useful because there are usually be multiple ways to refer to your topic/concept or when any of the words will do:
"climate change" or "global warming"
"greenhouse gas emissions" or "climate change"
"legal standing" or "legal rights"
"social cost of carbon" or ssc
Use -and- between search concepts, the database will only show you search results that contain those search terms.
"antiquities act" and president and authority
"public trust doctrine" and "climate change"
("social cost of carbon" or scc) and (NEPA or "national environmental policy act"
| additional concepts to add |
| legislation |
| law |
| "government policy" |
| "environmental aspects" |
| policies |
| policy |
| regulation* |
Put it all together:
Topic:
Do the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Santa Maria Water District have the discretion to release water from the Twitchell Dam to avoid take of endangered Southern California Steelhead?
"u.s. bureau of reclamation" and discretion and water and endangered
Topic: Is the public trust doctrine a viable legal theories for addressing the harms associated with climate change?
"public trust doctrine" and "climate change"
"public trust doctrine" and "climate change" and constitution*
