Put quotation marks around phrases: "beauty and the beast" "fairy tale"
Truncate a term by using the wildcard symbol (asterisk) when appropriate: adapt* will find adapt, adaptation(s), adapted, adapting, adaptive, adapts
Use synonyms, placing them in the same search box, separated by an all-capitals OR. A thesaurus can help you identify synonyms: film* OR cinema OR "motion picture*"
Start by searching a specific topic, but be willing to make the search more general if you get no or too few results. When searching an article database, put the terms in separate boxes; if there is only one search box, consult the database's Help feature for instructions:
specific: "lady macbeth" (murder* OR homicid*) macbeth
more general: women (murder* OR homicid*) macbeth
even more general: women (murder* OR homicid*) shakespeare
