What is a Keyword search?
Synopsis:
Keywords are everyday words that the common person would use to search the internet. Keywords are words that you or I would enter in a search engine if we wanted to retrieve specific information about a topic. These keywords can be directional, transactional, or informational words that relate to your topic. Most of us find ourselves entering full sentences into Google or other search engines. However, Google is only looking for pertinent words in that search using AI to give you a predictive list of results that you will most likely click on.
If you were to enter a full research question into the Library databases, it will search for the major words in the string of text while ignoring others (if, the, because, etc.). This is in part due to algorithm differences, but also because database search results are designed to be very specific. Since the algorithm works differently, this means you must change the way you search in Library databases versus how you search in Google.
Searching Keywords:
When searching in Library databases, it's important to focus on one or two words that summate the topic you are searching for. Since you already bring some knowledge about a topic to your search, it's helpful to write down a few synonyms for the words you are searching for. This way you can exchange them in your search to see if you get more accurate results. This will also help you be more specific when formulating a research question. Say you are searching about how technology can assist those with disabilities. If you were to type Technology into the database search engine, you may get hits talking about technology, wi-fi, smartphones, PCs, infrastructure, AI and more. Popular sources may help you determine a broad range of synonyms to use before researching in databases. In either case, narrowing your search to a more specific keyword(s) will lead you to more direct results.
Multiword Searching:
When searching for a topic that is more than one word such as Climate Change it is very important to include quotations around the full phrase you are searching. When you enter a two- or three-word phrase as a search the database can't be sure what you are searching for so it searches for all of them. Using the same example above, the database will retrieve all articles that contain the word Climate or Change. By placing quotations around and searching for "Climate Change" the databases will only retrieve articles that contain those two words together in the body of the text.
Hints:
-Create a list of synonyms of the main words of your proposed research and experiment with them to see if you get more targeted results.
-Databases do not have spell check. If you spell a word wrong, you are unlikely to get any results.
-Make sure that you are using words that describe the topic or are related to the topic you wish to research. This will most likely mean multiple keyword searches.