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 quotes around a phrase.
Using quotations marks means that the database will search for the entire phrase, not the individual words.
"affirmative action"
"death penalty"
"fast fashion"
"gun control"
"health care reform"
"reproductive rights"
Use the * for truncation
When you put an asterisk at the end of a search term it searches for words with any possible ending.
environment* = environment or environments or environmental
immigr* = immigrant or immigrants or immigration
disabilit* = disability or disabilities
homosexual* = homosexual or homosexuals or homosexuality
female* = female or females
use - or - to connect synonyms
"death penalty" or "death sentence" or "capital punishment"
homosexual* or queer or lgbt* or lesbian* or gay
poverty or "low income"
women or female* or woman
"gun control" or "gun policy" or "gun legislation"
racism or "racial discrimination"
use - and - to connect concepts
"fast fashion" and environment*
("death penalty" or "capital punishment") and (race or racism or "racial discrimination")
