Identify Your Keywords
Select the most important 2-3 keywords. These are terms related to your topic. For example:
Topic: how is global warming affecting small island states?
Keywords: global warming, small island states
Compose Your Search String
In order to find information in a database, you must create a search string. This is a combination of keywords and search operators (e.g. AND, OR, *) that tells the database the information you want to receive. Here are a few tips:
1. Use quotation marks ( " " ) around phrases (two or more words); this tells the database to look for the words in a specific order.
"global warming"
2. Put the word AND between each new keyword or phrase; this tells the database to look for resources with ALL your keywords.
"global warming" AND atmosphere
3. Put the word OR between two or more keywords to find articles that use common synonyms for your topic.
"global warming" OR "climate change"
4. Use an asterisk ( * ) to find multiple versions of one keyword. For example, using pollut* as a search term will include results that refer to pollute, pollutes, polluted, polluting, and pollution.
pollut*
Search Examples