Search Terms

Hi all,

Just a quick note about search terms. As usual at this stage, you all are starting to send me emails saying, "I'm having trouble finding articles using x approach about my chosen text."  

The answer is this: you need to get creative about search terms.  For example, instead of “feminism,” what other related words might yield results?  

Try searching "feminist," "women," "men," "masculinity," "feminine," "gender," etc, etc, etc.   

You can also use wild cards: "femin*" (note the asterisk) will yield all versions of "feminist," "feminine," "femininity," "feminism," whereas searching "feminist" will only show results with that exact form of the word.

When I’m searching, I try tons of different terms—you have to be smarter than the database which can only search for the word you type in, not the idea, with all of its associations.

Searching requires nimbleness.  Keep plugging in various words until you get the results you want.