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Search Tip: Keywords Are Key

Your search results are only as good as the keywords you use for search terms. So, how do you generate the most useful keywords for what you need to research?

• Step One: Identify the Core Concepts

Break your research topic into its core concepts. For example, if you were researching, “What is Company X’s most valuable product?” you can break that down into “Company X,” “product,” and “value.”

Librarian Tip: Avoid using abstract concepts such as “most” or “best” as keywords. These words won’t help the database you are searching narrow down results, and may even exclude information that could be useful. You need to make those types of evaluations based on the information you find.

• Step Two: Brainstorm

Think about how you can expand those core concepts of your topic. Are there any synonyms you could use as keywords? Any closely related words? For example, if you are researching bottled beverages, you might try using these keywords:

• Bottle
• Beverage
• Drink
• Can
• Juice
• Soda
• Alcohol

Librarian Tip: Consider spelling out abbreviations and using those as keywords. You can try the full spelling in addition to the abbreviation to see which one is more useful.

• Step Three: Run Your Search (and Run It Again, and Again…)

Your first search may not return the information you need, and even if it does, it probably won’t turn up every bit of useful information available. Keep trying different variations and combinations of your keywords and run multiple searches. You never know what you could miss if you only try once!

Librarian Tip: Use an asterisk! Some databases pull up any words related to the root word of your keywords automatically, but some don’t. To make sure you pull up all the relevant results, try truncating a word to its root with an asterisk. For example, instead of using “teenager” as a keyword, you could use “teen*” which will bring up results that include “teenager,” “teen,” and “teens.”

With the right keywords, you can unlock the full potential of databases and find the crucial information you need. Good luck with your researching and remember you can always reach out to us for help!