Library Guides: ENG 198: Krug: Search Tips

Identifying Keywords

Keywords are the terms that you type into the search box in a library database. They are the essential terms for your idea, the most important words describing your topic.

Before you can begin searching for information in a resource, you need to identify keywords related to your topic.

TIP: Make a list or use a chart to keep track of keywords related to your topic. Keep it by your side when you start your research. Make note of which keywords return the most relevant results. It's a dynamic process and you may have to experiment with several synonyms.

EXAMPLE:

How does reading contemporary popular romance novels relate to attitudes on modern gender roles?

romance novels

gender roles

romance fiction

romance literature

popular romance novels

contemporary popular romance novels

modern gender roles

sex roles

sex stereotypes

gender identity

Building Search Strings

Once you have identified keywords, use the following techniques to build search strings for searching in library catalogs, databases, and search engines to quickly find more relevant sources to use in your research:

Boolean Operators

Search Modifiers

AND combines different ideas (concepts).

Narrows the search.

Example: romance novels AND gender roles

Results will contain both the words romance novels and gender roles

Phrase Searching allows adjacent words to be kept together.

Example: “romance novels”

Results will contain words romance and novels together as an exact phrase.

OR is used when adding synonyms, different spellings, similar concepts, etc.

Increases the number of results.

Example: gender roles OR sex roles

Results will contain one or more of the words gender roles and sex roles

Truncation broadens search to include various word endings and spellings.

Example: histor*

Results will contain terms that begin with histor, e.g., history, histories, historical

NOT excludes terms to make the search more specific.

Reduces the number of results.

Example: gender roles NOT stereotypes

Results will not contain the word stereotypes

Nesting utilizes parentheses to control the logical order in which words are interpreted by the system.

Example: (gender roles or sex roles) AND romance novels

Results will include the word romance novels and either or both the words gender roles and sex roles