When searching a database, choose and combine your terms carefully.
Compare these two searches:
- disaster OR hurricane OR flood OR crisis // Give me articles that mention at least one of these terms
- disaster anthropology hurricane Louisiana // Give me articles that match all four of these terms
Each of those searches can be helpful - but it depends on which database you're using.
- Best used in databases: Anthropology Plus, Sociological Abstracts (because you're only searching abstracts, not texts)
- Best used in Tripod, JSTOR, Google Scholar (large collections that include some full-text)
Copy and paste the following search into Tripod - how many results do you get? Then try the search in Sociological Abstracts.
(disaster OR hurricane OR flood OR crisis) AND (Louisiana OR "United States")