Before you start searching on your topic, it's helpful to consider the various possible keywords you could use in searching. Here's why:

1. The more words you put into a database search, the fewer results you'll get, so breaking down your research question or topic down into the most important keywords is critical.
2. Computers are clueless and don't know that certain words are used interchangeably. For example, they don't know that a word like salary means about the same thing as earnings, wages, or pay, so it's important to think of terms that mean the same thing.
3. The terms that you naturally think of when you think about your topic may not be the same words that experts use to write about the topic.
 
This requires you to think not only of the terms that naturally come to your mind, but to brainstorm terms that mean the same thing or are related. You can identify other keywords by looking for a Wikipedia entry on your topic or simply doing a Google search on your topic and seeing what related or synonymous words are used in the titles of results. Try to think of as many synonyms or related terms as you can.

Here's an example researching the culture and traditions surrounding holy men/shamans/medicine men among the Oglala Lakota.

Now, I will brainstorm other keywords that are similar to those original terms. Some individuals and cultures, especially those that are not English-speaking, often have been referred to by a number of different names or spellings:

Black Elk, Heȟáka Sápa, Oglala Lakota, Lakota Sioux            

Once you have your keywords, you can start searching. Using connecting words (AND, OR, and NOT) will help you develop a targeted search and save time. This four-minute video from Portland State University Library will introduce ways to develop your search query using connecting words and other search tools.

The Library’s article search on the front page of the library website searches our two largest multidisciplinary library databases, Academic Search Premier and MasterFILE Premier. They contain not just scholarly articles, but also magazine and newspaper articles written for a non-expert audience. Before you search, be sure to click on the Articles tab, or you'll find yourself searching for books and videos. If you want to limit your search there to just scholarly articles, you can check the box for Peer Reviewed on the front page (shown below).

Watch this five-minute video on finding articles through the library to see how our library article search works and how to search it.

Now you're ready to start searching on your own in the Library's article search. Be sure to click on the Articles tab check the box that limits your search to scholarly peer-reviewed articles.

Try different combinations of keywords and see how they change your results list. When you find articles that look useful, email them to yourself so you'll have the article as well as the formatted citation without having to go back into the database again.