Think of keywords, or important words describing each aspect of your topic, such as:
domestic abuse children
Put quotation marks around words you want to search as a phrase, such as "domestic abuse"
If you are not getting the results you want, think of synonyms or related terms that might get at your topic. For example:
"domestic violence" adolescents
You might find that you have too many search results. To narrow down your search, add more keywords. For example:
"domestic violence" adolescents gender
Keep track of the keywords you use! You will want to try the same searches in different databases.
Find peer-reviewed, full-text articles from a variety of sources.
Nearly all of the library's databases contain many articles from scholarly journals; also called peer-reviewed, refereed, or academic journals. When you do a search, look for an option (usually a check box) to limit your search to this type of material.
For more on the peer review process, check out the video below: