Welcome to this stop about choosing your initial keywords. When you reach the stop about searching, you will most likely adjust or add to your keywords, but it is helpful to have an initial set to search with.
Research is a process that requires persistence and multiple and varied searches to find the information you need, which is why it can be helpful to think of it as a strategic exploration.
Therefore, to help make this process easier, it is essential to be deliberate about the words you choose to use when searching.
We call these search terms keywords.
Keywords are the words or phrases that describe your research paper's main topic or idea.
These words will help you search for resources that are relevant to your topic.
Examine your research question to determine the major concepts or words with a specific meaning. These terms will form the basis of your search.
Identifying the keywords is an important step in our research process, and it will make finding sources easier and more efficient.
The database will then match your keywords against the articles' text and provide results that align with your input. Keyword searching offers the benefit of precision, allowing you to create focused, precise searches in a library database and obtain exactly what you need.
When identifying keywords there are a couple points to keep in mind.
Point A: Two to Four ideas
If you use too many ideas, you will limit your results and with too few ideas you will have too many results.
For example take a look at the difference betweeen the number of results in the following searches:
Point B: Phrasing Searching
One important note is that one keyword is sometimes made up of multiple words that encompass one idea.
For example,
These phrases are treated like one keyword, because all the words are necessary to communicate the idea.
When you have a keyword that is a phrase it is helpful to add quotation marks around the words to communicate to the database that we want to search for those words together in that specific order.
When selecting keywords use only the most significant unique words that express your topic.
For example, avoid words that are:
too common
insignificant
comparative words
These will likely to pull up too many different unrelated papers. Although these words add context for you, to a computer they're just another set of letters to search for. If all the chosen words don't appear the resource will not be found.
These words add no value to your search and will only cause you to lose useful search results.
So for example in the following research question:
What is the impact of the non-drug therapies on migraines on pain?
The keywords would be:
non-drug therapies
migraines
pain
When searching for information, it's essential to be aware of the words used. Keywords shape the results but can also introduce bias into searches. Bias occurs when the choice of words reflects preconceived notions, stereotypes, or preferences, leading to skewed results.
When searching for information, it's important to be aware of the words you choose as they can introduce bias into searches.
Here's why this can be problematic:
To combat bias in searching, it's important to use neutral and objective keywords whenever possible.
Problematic keywords are generally verbs like: does, should, will, must, lead.
Use the questions below to practice finding the keywords in a research question.
Selecting the right keywords is essential for effective research. By identifying critical concepts from your research question, you can streamline your search process and enhance the relevance of your results.
Remember, research is an iterative process that requires refining your keywords and trying multiple searches.
Move onto the next stop about source types.
