Why not just Google everything?
Google only offers access to a small portion of the Internet. The library has access to subscription databases that can give you much more -- and better -- information!
Tips for Searching Library Databases
Identify Keywords
1. Take your topic and break it into keywords or phrases.
Ex.) Inequality and Injustice in Black Communities in the United States.
2. Think of synonyms to come up with additional keywords you could use.
Ex.)
| Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 | Keyword 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Inequality | Injustice | "Black community" |
| Diversity | Infringement | Urban |
| Discrimination | malpractice | inner- city |
| Disparity | unfairness |
Hint! Use a thesaurus to help you come up with additional keywords.
Combine Keywords to Form a Search
Put the keywords and phrases you came up with together to form a "search string."
Ex.) Inequality AND Inner City
or... Unfairness AND Inner City
Key phrases are grouped together with quotation marks.
This tells the database to search for the words together as a phrase instead of searching for each word independently.