Choosing Keywords

When searching in library research databases, it is important to search with keywords that capture the essential concepts that make up your topic because the more terms you use in your search, the more specific your results will be. 

Keywords are important words/concepts found in your research question or thesis. A quick and dirty way to pull keywords from a research question/thesis is to choose the most important nouns; all other words are irrelevant. Using keywords to search will always retrieve more results than phrases or sentences.

Keywords have a profound impact on search results. Using the right words will speed up the research process, while the wrong ones can bring to it to a painfully screeching halt.

If the keywords you initially choose do not give good results, try others on your list or ask a librarian.

If you need assistance identifying keywords, click here.