Look up your terms in the thesaurus and this will tell you related or preferred terms. Coastal Coast or coasts beach or beaches Pollution Oil Sewage Britain United Kingdom or UK England, Scotland, Wales British Isles, Ireland use these terms in your search. The way that you input and combine terms will depend on the source that you are using. A printed guide to 'Advanced searching on the Web catalogue' explains more fully, as does help on the system. Some databases use a thesaurus or controlled indexing which will help you to choose the preferred term, and indicate related terms.
Help is also available on combining search terms .