Always think about different ways to say the same thing. Start with keywords to describe your topic, within results, look at the abstract and subject headings to identify additional keywords to use.
Search Strategies:
Start with keywords
Place phrases in quotes so the whole phrase will be searched together and not the words individually
"marriage equality"
"gay marriage"
"gender role"
"gender identity"
"don't ask don't tell"
"mental health"
"coming out"
Place an * at the end of the word to retrieve all the variations
role* = role or roles
feminis* = feminism or feminist or feminists
sex* = sex or sexes or sexuality
homosexual* = homosexual or homosexuals or homosexuality
college* = college or colleges
universit* = university or universities
asexual* = asexual or asexuality
combine word/s using connectors.
or: either term/s are included (to connect synonyms or like concepts)
"gender role" or "gender identity"
gay or homosexual* or lgbt or lesbian* or transgender
law or legislation
intersex or intergender
college* or universit*
and: all terms must be included (to connect concepts)
"lgbt adoption" and law
homosexual* and "civil right*"
Put it all together:
(lgbt or gay or lesbian* or homosexual*) and adoption and (law or legislation)
transgender and (university or college*) and (housing or dorm*)
Within databases, limit to scholarly journals
Ebsco - either Scholarly (peer reviewed) Journals or Academic Journals
