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Try these 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 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 on your topic
Example:
United States--History--20th century
United States--History--1929-1933
United States--History--1933-1945
United States--Economic conditions--1918-1945
United States--Social conditions--1933-1945
United States--Social life and customs--1918-1945
Depressions--1929--United States
New Deal, 1933-1939
