When searching the databases for articles, do not type in whole sentences.
Look at your course readings for ideas on topics. Scan the titles of the articles of your readings for additional topics and keywords you can use to search.
There is no one 'correct' search word to use. Differnet keywords will give you additional results. Think of words that mean the same or something similar as your topic and try those words too. E.g. Second Language Aquisition: Language Learning; Bilingualism;
Search multiple times in a single database before deciding it does not have any useful articles.
Use the asterisk * to truncate words and widen your search. Dialect* will search for Dialect, Dialects and Dialectology.
Use quotation marks to keep phrases together: e.g. "Second Language Acquisition"
e.g. search "Second Language Aquisition" AND Linguistics AND Brain
or Bilingual* And Neurolinguistics
or "Language Learning" AND Linguistics AND Brain
Try your search terms in different combinations to get the greatest number of results.
Below you will find some sources that will help get you started with topic ideas. You will need to log in with your MyWCC username and password if you are off-campus.