Also called wildcards, this is the process of adding an '*' to the end of a root word to get different variations on the word.
For example, doing a search on child* in a database would search for: child, children, childhood, childlike, or any other word that begins with "child."
This is the process of keeping keywords together by surrounding with quotation marks (" "). So if you have a keyword that is more than one word, such as human resources, you will want to type "human resources" into the search box to ensure the words human and resources don't get searched separately.
Before you start searching, consider developing a list of keywords that best describe your topic.
Remember to think of synonyms or additional terms you know of -- and don't be afraid of using a thesaurus or encyclopedia to find more keywords if you are unfamiliar with a topic.
Here is an example of breaking down a topic into keywords:
Prisons (main keyword)