Unlike Google, library databases typically give you exactly what you ask for - they don't guess what you meant by X keyword or use algorithms to give you individualized results based on what the search engine knows about you. For the most part, what you input has a direct effect on what the database outputs.
Because of this, your search strategy matters a lot. You can use search operators to expand or narrow your search. Here are some common ones you may want to try:
- OR: finds the specified search terms together or separately (gets more results)
- AND (+): requires that all search terms be present.
- i.e.: women and empowerment
- NOT(-): excludes that term from the results (narrows results)
- "Quotes" locate exact term "inside the quotes"
- i.e.: "the revolution will not be televised"
- (Parentheses) treat the words inside like their own separate bubble
- i.e.: (women OR female) AND empowerment
- Truncation and Wildcard(*, ?,#) searches for all variations of a word and alternate spellings (may work slightly different depending on the database)
- Truncation finds alternate endings of a word, i.e., child* = children, child, childhood, etc.
- Wildcard ? replaces a single character in a word, i.e.: wom?n = woman, women
Word of warning: not every database functions in the same way (believe me, it annoys me too). When in doubt, look for a "search help" or "search tips" link for the database you're working in.
