When looking for books or articles try to narrow down your subject.
For Example:
for example: Haiti-- History-- American occupation 1915-1934
> The result should be more items on your topic, with less searching.
Brainstorm synonyms for your concept. Different databases use different words for the same concept. Searching for alternative words improves your chances of success.
Modify your searches based on your results. If you find articles that reflect your interests, redo your search using words that appear in the title, subject headings, abstract, or full text of that article.
Use the asterisk (*) to find various word endings. (i.e., democrat* finds democrat, democrats, or democratic)
Use the Boolean search operators: and, or, not, near.
AND Reduces the number of search results by requiring more than one term to appear in the same article. (i.e., democrat and obama and campaign)
OR Expands the number of search results by expanding the possible matches to include either one or the other term. (i.e., money or financ*)
NOT Reduces search results to omit references to articles with certain words that have nothing to do with your topic. (i.e., planning not wedding)
NEAR Reduces the search results by requiring two words to appear near one another in the articles. (i.e., political near part*)
Put it all together to make a sophisticated search:
(political near part*) and campaign* and (money or financ*)