Remember! Library databases are not Google. You can't just put your entire question into the search box and get results. Follow the steps below to break your question into keywords for better searches!
1. Take your topic or research question and break it into keywords or phrases.
Ex.) How did the decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education, declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, lead to more equal educational opportunities for black and white students?
2. Think of synonyms or related terms to come up with additional keywords you could use.
Ex.)
| Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 | Keyword 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Racial Segregation | Educational Opportunities | Students of Color |
| Racism | Education | Fourteenth Amendment |
| Separate but equal | Schooling | Bussing |
| Jim Crow | Learning | Desegregation |
| Racial Discrimination | Integration |
Hint! Use a thesaurus or the Credo Reference topic web to help you come up with additional keywords.
Put the keywords and phrases you came up with together to form a "search string."
Ex.) "Brown vs Board of Education" AND "Jim Crow"
or... "Brown vs Board of Education" AND Racism AND Bussing
Notice how key phrases are grouped together with quotation marks.
Ex.) "Brown vs Board of Education" / "Jim Crow"
This tells the database to search for the words together as a phrase instead of searching for each word independently.
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!