Make a list of keywords on your topic. For example, if you are looking for information about climate change, try using the following KEYWORDS when searching the library databases or library catalog:
As you do your research, keep a list of keywords that help you get to the information you are looking for.
A keyword search will retrieve articles that have that keyword anywhere in the text. For example, using the keyword "climate change" you might find an article about Giant Squids that mentions climate change once on the last page. Keywords help you do a broader search, but keyword searches also give you results that may not be relevant to your topic.
A subject search finds articles on that subject. For example, using the subject term "climate change" will give you articles about climate change. It can be hard to figure out the right subject term, but once you find it it will always take you to results that are about your topic.
Once you have identified some good keywords, you can combine those keywords in different ways:
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AND |
Moroccan |
Results (red) that contain both Moroccan AND |
|
|
OR |
vegetarian |
Results (red) that contain either vegetarian OR vegan or both. |
|
|
NOT |
Venus |
Results (red) that contain Venus but NOT |
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Another good search trick is truncating by using the symbol *. Truncating a term such as education allows you to search for a range of word endings within one search:
Educat* -->searches for --> educatION educatIONAL educatOR educatE