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Choosing Keywords for Research

This guide demonstrates how to choose keywords for search engines, book catalogs, and library databases. You
can view a video of this topic at http://libguides.seminolestate.edu/tutorials/chooseterms. Some of this information
was taken from Seminole State College’s library website1.

Three-Step Process
From your thesis statement or research question, identify the main concepts or keywords. By creating a list of
keywords, you will be able to construct better and more efficient searches. These in turn will lead you to more
plentiful and relevant information supporting your thesis.
Follow the three-step process below for discovering keywords. It is helpful to keep track of the keywords on a
sheet of paper or a word processing document for reference.

1. Extract single words or short phrases.

You will not use complete sentences as you would in normal conversation to search. Leave out minor words such
as articles ("a," "an," or "the") and prepositions or verb phrases ("on," "in," or "going to").
Also, use nouns (person, place, or thing) as keywords. Avoid verbs (action words) and use adjectives (descriptive
words) sparingly.
Examples:
→ cat → dog → education
→ boat → car → carbon emissions

2. Experiment with different synonyms.

Try thinking of synonyms (words that have the same meaning as another word) of your keywords. For example,
you start with the word "trash," but you could also experiment with using the words "garbage" or “waste.” An
online or printed thesaurus is a great place to find synonyms.
Examples:
→ feline → canine → school
→ ship → automobile → greenhouse gas

3. Think of related terms to describe your topic.

What are some other topics or areas related to your research? These may be worthy of consideration if you are
having trouble finding good keywords or if you want to further refine your research focus. For example, some
related terms to "pollution" are "acid rain," "global warming," or "refuse water." The related terms may be more

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specific or less specific than the original terms in your thesis. Each combination will change the number and type
of your search results.
Examples:
→ animal → pet → teacher
→ watercraft → transportation → ozone layer

Now it is your turn to come up with search terms (or keywords) for your research. List as many as you can think of
in the space provided below. Highlights or circle the words that help you find what you are looking for when you
use them to search.
Facebook _________________________________________________________________

Phone _______________________________________________________________________________

Social media ___________________________________________________________________________

Anxiety __________________________________________________________________________________

Loneliness________________________________________________________________________________

Anti-Social__________________________________________________________________________________

shy __________________________________________________________________________________

Addiction _______________________________________________________________________

Creating Search Statements

This guide demonstrates how to create search statements for use in research tools like library databases, online
catalogs, and search engines. Some of this information was taken from Seminole State College’s library website2.

Creating Search Statements

Search engines like Google allow you to type a question or sentence directly in the search box. This won’t work in
the library catalog or databases. Instead, use keywords, phrase searching and Boolean terms. Boolean terms
(AND, OR, NOT) are used to either narrow or broaden your pool of results. Boolean terms usually appear in all
uppercase letters to distinguish them from the keywords. Some search tools require capitalized Boolean terms.

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Phrase Searching
Enclose phrases, proper names, and titles with quotation marks. Adding quotations keeps all the words
together so the search engine, database, or library catalog does not search for them as individual words.
Examples:
physical activity → "physical activity"
Affordable Care Act → "Affordable Care Act"
Ernest Hemingway → "Ernest Hemingway"

Boolean Term: AND

Use AND to connect keywords and narrow results. Select a keyword for each separate concept in your thesis,
and then connect them with an AND. Remember, every time you add a word you narrow your search and receive
fewer results. If you have too few results, eliminate keywords or substitute others.
Examples:
→ "weight lifting" AND obesity
→ exercise AND health AND elderly
→ "physical activity" AND diabetes AND "aging adults"

Boolean Term: OR
Use OR to search with synonyms and expand results. With OR, you tell the search system that you are equally
interested in multiple terms. This is an ideal to search strategy to use with synonyms and is very effective when
combined with an AND term.
Examples:
→ "physical activity" OR exercise
→ elderly OR "aging adults" OR "older adults"
→ running OR cardio AND obesity

Boolean Term: NOT

Use NOT to eliminate unwanted keywords. This is helpful to eliminate topics that change the results. For
example, if you want to know about manatees around the word, but not Florida manatees specifically, you can
search for "manatees NOT Florida" to eliminate results that mention Florida.
NOT can be used with AND or OR. Just make sure NOT comes after the keyword you want to keep and before
the keyword you want excluded. Examples:
→ exercise NOT "weight lifting"→ walking NOT running AND obesity
→ exercise OR "physical activity" NOT teenagers *Some search tools
use a minus sign (-) instead of NOT to eliminate keywords.
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Now it is your turn to come up with search statements for your research. List as many as you can think of in the
space provided below. Make sure to use the Boolean terms (and, or, not). Highlights or circle the statements that
help you find what you are looking for when you use them to search.
______Facebook Not Instagram ________________________________________________________________

______addiction Not easy to deal with _____________________________________________________

______Anxiety_Not depression _______________________________________________________

____Shy and Lonely_____________________________________________________________________

_____Antisocial Not Social ___________________________________________________________________

___Narcisism Not Nice________________________________________________________