- Look for and correct any typographical errors
- Exclude unnecessary terms from your search, and combine just the most important keywords with logical operators (especially AND, OR). For example, (smoking OR cigarettes) AND movies AND teenagers will retrieve results, but the influence of smoking in movies on whether teens start smoking won't in most research databases.
- EXCEPTION: Longer phrases and natural language searches often work in OneSearch
- Be sure you're using an appropriate database for your topic. Don't accidentally choose a literature database to find information about criminal justice or an ebooks database to find newspaper articles. See the subject and type filters available in Databases A-Z as shown below.
If you're not finding what you need, please consult a research librarian.