Keywords
Always think about different ways to say the same thing. Start with keywords to describe your topic. Then, within results, look at the abstract and subject headings to identify additional keywords to use.
Using Quotation Marks
Using quotations marks means that the database will search for the entire phrase, not the individual words.
| place phrases in quotes |
| "tax reform" |
| "law enforcement" |
| "racial profiling" |
| "family leave" |
| "war on drugs" |
| "prison labor" |
| "affirmative action" |
| "health care" |
| "universal health care" |
| "assault weapons" |
Using *
When you put an asterisk at the end of a search term it searches for words with any possible ending.
| use * for truncation |
| "African American*" = African American or African Americans |
| prison* = prison or prisons |
| tax* = tax or taxes |
| female* = female or females |
| disparit*" = disparity or disparities |
| debt* = debt or debts |
| environment* = environment or environments or environmental |
Using OR
When you use OR between search terms, the database will search for any of them. This is useful for the multiple ways to refer to your topic.
| use - or - for synonyms |
| "African American*" or Black* |
| women or female*" |
| policy or policies |
| prison* or jail* |
| race or racial |
| "law enforcement" or police |
| program* or intervention or training or strategy |
| "death penalty" or "capital punishment" |
| debate or controversy or argument |
| "family leave" or "maternity leave" or "paternity leave" |
| "gun control" or "gun legislation" or "gun laws" |
| gun* or firearm* |
Using AND
When you use AND between two search terms, the database will only show you search results that contain BOTH of those search terms.
| use - and - to connect concepts |
| "border security" and surveillance |
| "tax reform" and environment* |
| ("family leave" or "maternity leave" or "paternity leave") and health |
| (women or female*) and (prison or jail) and ("African American*" or Black*) and (childbirth or pregnan*) |
| "prison labor" and (profit* or corporation* or privat*) |
