Use a variety of search terms (keywords) to describe your topic. Keep a running list of terms you find relevant to your topic as you search. You will often discover new relevant vocabulary that helps you explore your topic, narrow your focus, and improve search results.
Combine search terms using boolean, phrase searching, and truncation when applicable. Remove all "stop words" from your search. Stop words include articles, prepositions, or any word not crucial to your question or topic. Examples: a, an, the, in, on, of, are, be, into, which, about, that, etc.
Use quotation marks for exact phrase searching
Placing search terms between quotation marks returns search results containing exact phrases.
Use truncation to search for a root word plus any possible endings
Use AND, OR, and NOT to combine your search terms. Nest combined phrases in parentheticals to keep the logic in place.