Developing Keywords

An essential skill to have, before you've even begun your research, is developing keywords, or search terms, based on your topic of choice. Watch the below video on Identifying Main Concepts to learn how to use this skill in practice!

Using Synonyms

Sometimes if you’re not getting the search results you desire, you need to switch up the keywords you’re using! Try searching using like-terms, it may be the case that a particular area of study prefers one term over the other when publishing in academic journals.

Example: Instead of the keyword films, you might try the key phrase “motion pictures”

Boolean Operators

You use Boolean Operators to string together keywords to expand or narrow the number of results you’ll get in a search. You can use these to string together as many search terms as you would like, but they must be place in between each one.

AND

The AND operator will search for item records in which all keywords used will appear, thus narrowing your search results. Items will only show up if BOTH keywords are present.

Example: libraries AND books

This search will only look for items in which the keywords libraries and books both appear.

OR

The OR operator will search for item records in which EITHER or BOTH keywords are present, thus expanding your search.

Example: libraries OR books

This search will look for item records in which the keywords libraries only appear, books only appear, and in which libraries and books both appear.

NOT

The NOT operator is used to exclude keywords from searches, thus narrowing your search results.

Example: libraries NOT books

This search will look for item records in which the keyword libraries appear, but not the keyword books.

Phrase Searching

It is possible to search databases for phrases! Unlike the long-form phrases and questions you can type into Google, phrases usually consist of 2-3 keywords. In order to search a phrase in an academic database, you must place that phrase in quotation marks.

Example: “motion pictures”

This search will look for item records in which the keyword “motion” appears directly before the keyword “pictures” without any other words in-between.

Using Database Filters

All modern academic databases will make use of “filters” that allow you to narrow or expand your search. These filters usually appear in a left-hand column after preforming your search. You are often able to narrow your search by factors such as: Peer-Reviewed; Publication Date; Subject; Journal Name; Publication Country; etc.

IMPORTANT! Whenever conducing an online search, unless looking for physical books in your library, make sure to always check the filter that says: Online Access. Otherwise, you may get results that you are not able to download or read online, which will almost always not be of use to your research projects.

Want to see all of the above techniques in action? Then check out this video!