Just as with a search engine like Google, you can search a library catalog or database by typing your search terms—an author’s name, the title of a work, a subject term or keyword, even a call number—into the search box. To search successfully, put yourself in the position of the people writing about your topic to figure out what words they might have used. If your topic is “ecology,” for example, you may find information under the keywords ecosystem, environment, pollution, and endangered species, as well as a number of other related keywords, depending on the focus of the research.