Use the Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to refine your topic and to thereby increase the number of relevant articles. The Boolean operators are on each and every database. Use them when searching the Internet as well.
It is advisable to use quotation marks (" ") when searching for a phrase (e.g. "fetal alcohol syndrome"). The computer will search for the exact phrase, not each individual word. Searching the exact phrase reduces the number of irrelevant "hits" and gives you more relevant results.
To find articles:
Journals, magazines and newspapers are an excellent source of current information. Thousands of articles on all kinds of topics are stored in databases. Most of the articles are available on the computer. You can read them, print, download or e-mail them to yourself so that you can read them later.