ENGL 393: Toni Morrison (Knight)

How Do I Search?

Here are some general tips to guide you in choosing your search terms:

• Use keywords or brief (2-word) phrases instead of sentences -- one or two for each part of your topic.
• Use concepts and other nouns as your keywords.  Think of words that are likely to be used in titles (or that you have seen in titles).
• When searching for a specific author, be flexible with the way you search for their name. For example, instead of searching for only "Toni Morrison," try searching for "Morrison, Toni" or simply "Morrison." 
• Spend some time brainstorming keywords and search terms. Use the subject headings/tags in each database to help you think of search terms. For example, if you search for "Morrison" and identity, you might come across additional terms like voice, portrayal or heritage.
• If your chosen text has a common title or a title that is a common term (ex -- Passing), it's a good idea to include the author's surname as an additional keyword. This will help make sure you are not getting results around different texts, or that aren't about texts at all. 

Some advanced tricks: 

• Use AND to make your search more specific by adding more keywords.
• Use OR to include alternative keywords and synonyms in your search. 
• Use an asterisk * after the root of a word to find all forms of a word. For example, a search for rac* will find sources that use not only the word race, but also terms like racial and racism. 

When you find a good article, look at its References or Works Cited list. That will often lead you to other useful sources. You can also look at information such as the name of the journal or the author for ideas of other ways to search.