This section is borrowed and adapted from Alayna Vander Veer's guide on Search Tips.
Before doing any research, it is important to know what words you will use to search for books and articles. Choosing the right words and search strategies can make all the difference, and it's important to remember that research is an exploratory process. It is rare to find exactly what you are looking for on the very first try. It is a process that usually requires multiple searches using multiple keywords or subject terms.
Keywords, also called search terms, are words you enter into a database or search engine to find relevant sources on your topic. The keywords represent the core concepts of your research question or topic. It may take multiple tries to find the keywords that bring you to relevant sources.
Keywords ("any field" or "select a field") will search titles, subjects, tables of contents, and descriptions.
Subject terms are standardized and will give you better, more specific results, and will only search subject. To find subject terms for books, use the Library of Congress Subject Headings. These will also give you narrower and broader terms. Some databases have a thesaurus or index that provide subject terms.
To get ideas for additional search terms, try the following: