Lehman Library. (2018, March 22). Searching Databases with Keywords [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/c4WZoFSglEI
Keywords, also commonly called search terms, are the words that you enter into the database search boxes. They represent the main concepts of your research topic and are the words used in everyday life to describe the topic. Without the right keywords, you may have difficulty finding the articles that you need.
Selecting keywords is a multi-step process that involves:
It is very rare that your first search will bring back perfect results. It takes trial and error to determine which keywords work best for your topic. Be prepared to run multiple searches in your quest for the keywords that will help you find the materials you need.
When doing an internet search in Google or Bing, you can enter your complete research question in the search box and get a bunch of results. However, if you enter your entire research question in the Library databases, you probably won't get any results. This is because the library databases look for the exact words, if the database can't find all of the words that you entered it won't bring back any results.
Here is an example of a research question:
What is the relationship between test performance and the retention of ESL students?
The keywords for this topic are listed below:
| Synonyms: Some topics have many different terms that can be used to describe them. For example, here are some additional keywords that could be used for test performance: | Antonyms: Sometimes when you are researching a specific topic, it can also be helpful to search for the opposite of your topic. For example, here are some possible antonyms for student retention: |
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