Be sure to use Caps for AND, OR, NOT when searching.
AND - searches for books and articles containing both terms. Example: medieval AND midwives
OR - searches for one of the words. Example: orphans OR foundlings
NOT - exclude a term. Example: Brit* NOT Brittany
Parenthetical notes () - excellent for OR or NOT searches. Like a math equation, the database will do this part first.
Example: (Concubines OR concubinage) AND women = articles about concubines or concubinages for women
Example: (conception NOT immaculate) AND science = articles about science of conception, excluding works about the immaculate conception
Quotation Marks ""- Links words together in the search. Works best for phrases or proper names.
Example: "middle ages"
Example: "late antiquity"
Warning: You might exclude results. A search for "Henry II of England" will omit instances where he's just Henry II. "High Middle Ages" will omit results where it's just "middle ages"
Asterisk * - Allows you to search several word endings at once, without using OR.
Example: widow* will cover widow, widows, widowhood,
Example: wom* will cover women, woman, womens, womanhood.
Example: Brit* will give you British, Britain, Brits.
Warning: You may get unexpected results. Brit* will also yield Brittany, Britons, and Britches. Widow* brings up widowers. Wom* will include wombat.