HIST 311 - Munzinger - Fall 2009 

This guide will help you with strategies for identifying the best keywords and phrases (or combinations of both) to use to search for information on any topic.

Here are a few tips to help you develop a good search strategy:

1. Use two or three keywords rather than a complete sentence. Example:

• TOPIC: I'm interested in finding articles on the debate about childhood immunizations and the reported links to autism.

• KEYWORDS: immunizations -- autism -- debate

2. Use "and" to connect your keywords. Example:

• immunizations AND autism AND debate

3. Use quotation marks when you want to search for a phrase. Example:

• "childhood immunizations"

4. Too few or poor results? Use synonyms and related terms to find different results. Example:

• "vaccinations" in place of "immunizations"

• "controversy" in place of "debate"