• Link concepts with the word AND. For example, a good way to find articles on how people feel about the death penalty would be to search: public opinion and death penalty 
• If there are different ways to say the same thing, consider using the linking word OR. For example, death penalty is also often referred to as capital punishment. To make sure you find all of the relevant articles, you can search it like this: death penalty or capital punishment
• Adding an asterisk at the end of a word will get alternative word endings. A search on child* will find the word child, but will also find childhood and children. Very handy! (Note that this does not work in Google Scholar).
• To retrieve an exact phrase enclose it in quotation marks. "Video game violence" will limit your search to that exact phrase. But be careful; often that will limit your search too much at the beginning. Try your search without quotation marks first.
• Remember to click on the tab or check the box that says "peer-reviewed" or "scholarly" if you are looking for academic/scholarly journal articles. That may not always be what you are looking for however!
• If you are not finding what you are looking for, please ask for assistance. We are here to help you!

In addition to the sources listed below, be sure to check the database you are using. Many of them have an automatic citation generator function built in.