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.

As Google embraces AI, its search functionality changes. Check back for updates (tried and tested by your human librarian friends).

Select each Google-specific strategy below to learn how to use it and why it is helpful.

• Use keywords

  

• tell Google what is most important to you

  Make sure to use keywords - words that are likely to appear in the websites or articles that you're looking for.
  • Why? Save yourself time. Save yourself from the frustration of sifting through garbage results.
    • In this example: Instead of saying friendships, I used relationships, because that’s a more academic term that researchers' or medical sites tend to use. Regarding this topic, researchers are who I want to learn from.
    • In this example: I used doomscrolling instead of news addiction because doomscrolling describes a very specific phenomenon involving both obsessively reading the news and the mental anguish that accompanies that action.

• site:

  

• search for a specific type of site

  • Use the special operator site: to retrieve webpages from URLs with the domain suffix (.gov, .edu, .org) you specify. Do not put spaces between the operator and the domain suffix.
    • Why? Website domain suffixes reveal the type of website or organization associated with it. Knowing this background can help you decide if you trust the information. Learn about website domain suffixes.

  search within a specific site

  • Use the special operator site: to retrieve webpages from the domain name (clackamas.edu or hhs.gov) you specify.
    • Why? Google is a powerful search tool and usually more effective than the search tools built into individual websites. The site: operator tells Google to search throughout that single domain for your search terms.
    • What is a domain name? The text that you type into an address bar to reach a specific website. CCC's domain name is clackamas.edu; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is hhs.gov.

• - (a hyphen or minus sign)

  

• exclude words

  Use the special operator - (a hyphen or minus sign) in front of words to exclude them from your search results. Do not put a space between the operator and your search term.

• "quotation marks"

  

• find an exact match

  • Use quotation marks around phrases to search for the words in the exact order you would like, instead of separately.
    • Why? Quotation marks override Google's default search system. When you want search results featuring an exact quote or phrase, using quotation marks around your search terms is the best way to ensure that happens.
  • Use quotation marks around a single search term.
    • Why? This guarantees that your exact word appears on the webpages you get back. No substitutions or related terms.

• intitle:

  

• search in the title

  Use the special operator intitle: to retrieve webpages with your keywords in the title of the webpage. Do not put a space between the operator and your search term.
  • Why? This helps you find more topic-relevant resources. If your keyword is in the title of a webpage, article, or video, the resource is probably about your topic.

• * (asterisks symbol):

  

• fill-in-the-blank

  Use the special operator * (asterisk symbol) as an invitation for Google to fill-in-the-blank. The * command only works on whole words, not parts of words.
  • Why? This is a useful way to ask open-ended questions or get suggestions. Google uses the * to fill-in-the-blank and find popular or contextual matches. (The search example above could return results correlating doomscrolling to anxiety, gender, FOMO, risk taking, and more.)

• OR

  

• search with synonyms or related ideas

  Use OR in between synonyms or related ideas to have either term show up in your search results. OR must be capitalized.
  • Why? This is a good way to search for synonyms. Google automatically searches for related words, but if you have specific synonyms or related keywords in mind, tell Google to find them.
  • Why? This is a good way to search for related ideas, or different ideas related to the same topic.
    • Example:  [ happiness OR "quality of life" joyscrolling ]  could be used to search for how joyscrolling impacts either happiness or the quoted phrase "quality of life"
    • Example:  [ income OR "life expectancy" joyscrolling ]  could be used to search for two different ideas, both related to joyscrolling.

• filetype:

  

• find downloadable files

  Use the special operator filetype: to retrieve specific types of files (instead of html webpages). Works for finding common file type extensions (docx, pdf, xlsx, mp4); see a more complete list. Do not put a space between the operator and your search term.
  • Why? We find this useful when searching for a free PDF or an editable template (e.g., project management template filetype:docx)

• combine several strategies

  

• Google like a librarian

  Use several strategies at once for very specific results.
  • Why? Take back agency over your search results. See beyond what AI or a search algorithm tells you to look at. Define your expectations of credibility, accuracy, and voice in your search results. 
  • Why? Save yourself time. Feel like a searching superstar when you quickly get high-quality and useful results that you told Google how to find, instead of Googling telling you to look at.

  Google like a computer scientist

  If this sort of specialized searching is fun and useful for you, check out this regularly updated, publicly viewable Google doc that lists a whole lot more Advanced search operators. (Maintained by Dr. Daniel M. Russell; you can Google him.)