Focusing your search on specific journals that publish research in your area of interest is a good option that allows for more open-ended searching (think broader keywords) in a space where you can count on everything being at least disciplinarily related. Do you already know some specific journals from searching you've done or from your syllabus? Your professor and a librarian can help identify specific journals, and a librarian can show you ways to search within one journal at a time.

When looking for books, academic publishers are the most likely sources for peer-reviewed scholarship. If you narrow your book search to academic publishers, you will have less to sort through. An advanced search in Catalyst is a good option for this kind of focused searching.