Using Keywords

Using our library database when searching for articles does not work like using a typical search engine.  A library database will look for all the words you put into the search box, exactly how you have typed them.  A typical search engine though will ignore some of the words you have typed into the search box, or look for words that are close to your word or term when performing your search.

So if you typed into a library database:

The library database will literally look for ALL the following words: 

Words like WHY, ARE, and MORE are unneeded in your search and could complicate the results.

Instead, we should identify the main concepts of our search.  These can be the parts of our search that are most important, or that do not describe another part of our thesis statement. These concepts are called keywords and these are the words that we use to search with.

Using Synonyms

A synonym is a word that is similar to your keywords.  Not everyone uses the same words to describe the same concept and we want to make sure that we do not miss important sources.

For example, we can use other words for Overweight:

Putting it all together

By adding an OR to each keyword or using the drop down box to the left, the database will search for sources that contain either term. This allows us to use multiple synonyms in the same search.

By adding an AND to each keyword or using the drop down box to the left, the database will search for sources where both items appear. The allows us to narrow our search down using multiple main terms together.

Still having trouble coming up with some keywords to use?  Try using this worksheet from UConn to point you in the right direction.