Want to know the best way to find the information you need in the databases? Keep these tips in mind:

Use Keywords: Use major keywords that cover what your topic is about as search terms. For example, search for “photosynthesis AND plants” instead of “how does photosynthesis make energy in plants?” While databases are getting better at handling Google-like searches like the latter, it’s a lot simpler to use keywords!

Use Search Operators: Notice that capitalized AND in the above example? That’s not for emphasis – that’s a Boolean operator. It helps link your terms together for an effective search.
AND: If you use AND, the database will return items with all of the specified terms. For example, “cats AND dogs” will give you articles that contain both terms.
OR: If you use OR between keywords, the database will return items with any combination of those keywords. For example, “cats OR dogs” will get you items only about cats, only about dogs, and items about both cats and dogs. It is the broadest search operator possible.
NOT: If you use NOT between keywords, the database will eliminate any results that contain the specified keyword. For example, “cats NOT dogs” will return items that only have cats in them. Any results with “dog” will be eliminated.
Want to know the best way to find the information you need in the databases? Keep these tips in mind:

Use Keywords: Use major keywords that cover what your topic is about as search terms. For example, search for “photosynthesis AND plants” instead of “how does photosynthesis make energy in plants?” While databases are getting better at handling Google-like searches like the latter, it’s a lot simpler to use keywords!

Use Search Operators: Notice that capitalized AND in the above example? That’s not for emphasis – that’s a Boolean operator. It helps link your terms together for an effective search.
AND: If you use AND, the database will return items with all of the specified terms. For example, “cats AND dogs” will give you articles that contain both terms.
OR: If you use OR between keywords, the database will return items with any combination of those keywords. For example, “cats OR dogs” will get you items only about cats, only about dogs, and items about both cats and dogs. It is the broadest search operator possible.
NOT: If you use NOT between keywords, the database will eliminate any results that contain the specified keyword. For example, “cats NOT dogs” will return items that only have cats in them. Any results with “dog” will be eliminated.

Use Filters: After running your initial search, take advantage of the search filters to make your results more relevant. You can filter by things like publication date, subject, full text availability, and more.