Before searching, it helps to reflect on your topic: this super short video will guide you through brainstorming keywords to search.
Directed by Karly Stark, written by Zhané Garlington (Undergraduate Library Fellow, 2020-21), with contributions from Nicole E. Brown, Kristina Bush & Gisèle Tanasse.
Quick Summary
Use quotation marks to search for a phrase.
Use AND to search for items with all search words in any order.
Use OR to search for items with at least one search word.
Use a question mark to search for variations of a single character.
(ex: search for "woman", "women", and "womyn".)
Use a wildcard/asterisk to search for variations of multiple characters.
(ex: search for "culture", "cultural", "culturally", etc.)
Use NOT to exclude words or phrases. (ex: search for voodoo but NOT voodoo economics.)