Brainstorm a variety of keywords / search terms Examples:
poverty
low-income
income level
social class
To Narrow a search:
Connect keywords with AND Example:
poverty AND education AND achievement
Use quotes to search for a phrase Example:
"social inequality" (NOTE: This works well in most databases, but not as well in Summon)
To Broaden a search:
Use OR to search synonyms Example:
poverty OR low-income
Combine various search strategies Example:
(poverty OR low-income) AND education
Search by keywords, not sentences Example:
poverty AND "secondary education" AND achievement instead of
effect of poverty on high school students
Use * to get different endings of a root word Example:
school* searches for: school, schools, schooling
Look for official subject terms or descriptors; use these terms to find more articles or books on your topic Examples:
Rome--Economic conditions
Rome--History--Empire, 30 B.C.-284 A.D.
Rome--History--Empire, 284-476
Rome--Politics and government
Rome--Civilization
Rome--Social life and customs
Rome--Social conditions
Rome--Religious life and customs
Rome--Intellectual life
