WR121 Pons

The first step to identifying keywords (search terms) is having an initial topic or research question to work with. Not there yet? Spend five minutes choosing a focused topic, then come back here.

Ready?

Step 1. Write down your research topic.

Example:

Step 2. Circle or highlight the most important individual ideas that make up your topic.

Hint: Look for the nouns.

Example:

Hint: Avoid these keywords, and why: 

• impacting, effectively, address, effect - don't use these words in your initial searches about a topic. Adjectives and words that indicate a relationship between two ideas will greatly reduce the number of search results you get. That isn't helpful right at the beginning of doing research. If you retrieve lots of search results, then feel free to add these types of words into your search queries.
• pro, con, for, against - rather than using words that convey opinions about topics, use nouns that help you learn about your topic(s) from every angle. Examples of more inclusive nouns include outcomes, impacts, or results.
• it, to, and, of, about - these are "filler words" that search engines and databases ignore anyway.

Step 3. Brainstorm related terms and synonyms.

Hint: Think about words or phrases that have similar meanings to each idea, or that are closely related to the overall topic.

Example:

How to identify related terms and synonyms:

• Look online with a search like other ways to say _____.
• Search with your main idea. Skim the results and see how that idea is talked about or referred to by others.
• Pop your whole research question into your favorite search engine. Skim the results and see what related issues and ideas show up.

Synonyms need to make contextual sense:

• Synonyms are words that mean the same thing. But synonyms won't always make sense in the context of your topic. 
• Example: Climate crisis.
  • Emergency is a synonym of crisis. "Climate emergency" makes sense in the context of this research topic. 
  • Pickle is a synonym of crisis. "Climate pickle" sort of makes sense, but researchers, environmentalists, and authors don't use this term. 

DONE! You've identified keywords.

Now you can apply basic search strategies to those keywords.

We all use it - now let's learn to use it better! Improving your Googling skills will save you time and make it easier to identify better sources of information. Tips and tricks are explained below.

1. Use quotation marks around your search terms to search for the words in the exact order you would like, instead of separately.

1. Use intitle: to retrieve webpages with your keywords in the title of the webpage

1. Use site:. to retrieve webpages from URLs in the domain (.gov, .edu, .org) you specify.  

1. Use - (a hyphen or minus sign) in front of words to exclude them from your search results.

1. Use OR in between words to have either or both of the words included in your search results. OR must be capitalized. This is a good way to search for synonyms.

In the above example, Google will find results that include (election AND fraud) and (voter AND fraud).

1. Use filetype: to retrieve specific types of files (instead of html webpages). Works for finding most file types.

1. Use several strategies at once for very specific results.