From the library home page, select Advanced Search. Using Advanced Search helps streamline your results. Use the different boxes to separate out the ideas that make up your topic (e.g., "gender OR sexuality" in one box, and "youth" in a separate one).
Use connectors (aka Boolean logic): Most databases and search engines use Boolean logic to make connections between different words in your search. A few of the most popular Boolean operators include:
AND narrows your search, e.g. Gender AND Violence
OR expands your search by using similar terms (synonyms), e.g. Gender OR Sexuality
Quotation marks tell the database to search for an exact phrase (as opposed to searching individual words separately), e.g. "Charter of Rights"
Asterisks (*) allow you to shorten a word to its root, allowing you to search for the same word with different endings. E.g., coloni* colonial, colonialism, colonization, colonized, etc. - all at once.
Centennial College Libraries has access to hundreds of databases across a variety of subject areas. You can find a few specialized databases below, or consult our e-resources page to see a full list.