Truncating words broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings. Remove the ending of the word and add an asterisk *.
If you are searching for a phrase put the entire phrase in double quotes. This will tell the search engine to only find results that contain the exact phrase, rather than one or two of the individual words.
If you have two or more words or concepts that you want to find, use AND (must be capitalized) to tell the search engine to only look for items that contain both words.
Often, there is more than one way to talk about your topic. If you want to try looking for multiple variations of the same word or phrase in a single search, use OR (all capitals) to tell the search engine to find material with any of the words you've included.
You can even combine these techniques and use both AND and OR to create a more complex query:
Databases have a variety of filters built in that you can select to help narrow your results. Consider adding filters such as publication date or peer-reviewed/scholarly to your search, especially if your search is returning to many results.
