The first step in the research process is to identify the key concepts of your topic. Key concepts are the elements of your topic that you will use to search.
From these key concepts you will generate the keywords needed to search the library's catalog and article databases.
Why bother?
For some search tools, like Google, you can type or paste in your entire topic and get relevant results, but most library search tools require more sophisticated handling. Using keywords instead of whole sentences streamlines the search process.
Identifying a topic's key concepts can help you build your search strategy and set parameters.
Write down your research topic and identify the important nouns and verbs. Do these words truly define the key concepts you are investigating or are there other underlying concepts at play? You should be aware of both the obvious concepts and the underlying ones.
Example:
Keywords are search terms, the words you type into the search box when using a search tool.
Consider the key concepts you identified for your topic. Start by translating those concepts into keywords you can potentially use when searching different online search tools. The best way to identify a good selection of keywords is to come up with synonyms for your key concepts. Be sure to look for more synonyms, keywords, and concepts as you search!
Example:
Key Concept 1 |
Key Concept 2 |
Key Concept 3 |
offshore oil drilling |
gasoline prices |
United States |
offshore drilling |
gas prices |
America |
deep water oil drilling |
oil prices |
American |
Words you don't need to search for and why:
Modified from DIY Research Guide, Camden-Carroll Library, Morehead State University.
This guide is maintained by D'Arcy Hutchings.