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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 website[1].

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
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→
greenhouse
→ ship → automobile 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 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
→ ozone
→ watercraft → transportation 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.

­>mind >body >positive

>affirmation >improve >beneficial >boost >effective
>positive attitude >positive affirmation
>overcome >prevail
>manifesting >demonstrating >communicating

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 website[2].

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
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uppercase letters to distinguish them from the keywords. Some search tools require
capitalized Boolean terms.

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
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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.

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).
­
Phrase Searching
Mental health >”Mental Health”
Positive Affirmation > “Positive Affirmations”

Boolean Term: AND

>”Mental Health” AND affirmations
>Manifesting AND “Mental Health”
>Excercise AND Mind

Boolean Term: OR
> “Positive Affirmations” OR Manifest
>Mental Health OR Mind
>Routine OR excercise

Boolean Term: NOT

>Affirmations NOT negative
>Health NOT physically
[1] https://www.seminolestate.edu/library

[2] https://www.seminolestate.edu/library
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