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.
place phrases in quotes |
"national security" |
"concentrated animal feeding operation*" |
"air quality" |
"climate change" |
"chesapeake bay" |
"invasive species" |
"fossil fuels" |
"genetically modified organism*" |
use * for truncation |
environment* = environment or environments or environmental |
"public land*" = public land or public lands |
emission* = emission or emissions |
gmo* = gmo or gmos |
use - or - to connect synonyms |
"wind energy" or "wind power" |
"mountaintop mining" or "mountaintop removal" |
chlorofluorocarbon or cfc |
cafo or "concentrated animal feeding operation*" |
gmo* or "genetically modified organism*" or "genetically modified food*" |
use - and - to connect concepts |
maryland and "air quality" and "emission test*" |
"wind power" and "public land*" |
greenpeace and membership |
"climate change" and "national security" |
Put it all together:
What impact do concentrated animal feeding operations have on water quality in the united states?
(cafo* or "concentrated animal feeding operation*") and water
What effect have genetically modified organisms had on undernourishment in developing countries?
(gmo* or "genetically modified organism*" or "genetically modified food*") and "developing countries" and nourishment
Additional concepts:
law and legislation
government policy
regulation
international cooperation
environmental aspects
public opinion
attitude*
rural
states
countries