Try these searching tips in online indexes/databases
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 in Summon)
To Broaden a search:
Use OR to search synonyms Examples:
poverty OR low-income
"world war II" OR "world war two" OR "world war 2" OR "second world war" (You never know how a resource is going to refer to a topic)
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 books or articles on your topic Examples:
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945--United States
Europe--History--20th century
United States--History--1933-1945
