1. Tips for Choosing and Using Keywords
writers of the harlem renaissance harlem renaissance writers
african american writers th century afro american
black poets OR novelists black novelists AND poets

2. If you are conducting an author or a title search, the search term is evident. But for other types of searches, the most effective search terms might not be so evident. ?

3. tax rebate
For information on a topic, the most common and the best kind of search is a usually a keyword search.

4. Find the words that are key
Definition of keyword: The word or words that relate to a particular topic. Keywords or phrases are used to construct a search statement to find information.
From Library eTutor Glossary at
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5. Find the words that are key. Don’t use too many words. Use nouns.
Follow these suggestions for choosing and using keywords:
Find the words that are key.
Don’t use too many words.
Use nouns.
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6. Connect a series of keywords
with Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT.
4. Use a variety of keywords, such as synonyms and related words.
5. Use more than one word to find information on a specific aspect of a topic.

7. If you were assigned to write a paper on the effects of global warming on our environment, you would first select the most important word or words in the statement, the keywords.
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8. Quick Quiz
Which two words would you use as the keywords for this assignment?
Write a five-page paper on the effects of global warming.
Answer: global warming

9. Don’t use too many words
Limit your search term to one, two, three, or—at the most—four words.
You would not use all the words that your instructor used to describe your research assignment, such as the effects of global warming on our environment.
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10. Quick Quiz Would these words make a good search term? Why?
The effects of global warming on our environment
Answer: No, these are too many words.

11. Use nouns (words that name people, places, things and ideas) as keywords
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12. Avoid using the following parts of speech as keywords:
Verbs (words that name action or condition)
Adjectives (words that describe things)
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13. Avoid using the following parts of speech as keywords--continued
Adverbs (words like slowly, very, easy, and about that tell how and to what extent something was done or appears)
Articles (the, a, an)
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14. Avoid using the following parts of speech as keywords--continued
Prepositions (words like at, in, under, into, etc., that show relationships among words)
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15. If you don’t know what part of speech a word is, look it up in a dictionary.
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16. In the phrase the effects of global warming on our environment, the underlined words are not nouns.
That leaves these words: effects, global warming, environment as keywords.

17. Quick Quiz Which words in the following statement are keywords?
The disadvantages of using Facebook
Answer: disadvantages
Facebook

18. Connect keywords with the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT
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19. “ ” When the keywords are two or more words,
use AND to connect them for results with
the words combined.
Note: Putting the words in quotation marks
also yields results with the terms used together.
“ ”
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20. Use AND to limit results to those containing all the connected terms.
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21. For example, if the keywords are bacon
AND eggs, the results will include both
words used together.
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22. Use OR to expand the results to
those containing the keywords
together and separately.

23. For example, if the keywords are bacon OR
eggs, some results will include bacon only,
some eggs only, and others both bacon and
eggs.
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24. Use NOT to exclude a term from the results.

25. For example, if the keywords are
eggs NOT bacon, your results will be limited
to those containing eggs. (Hold the bacon.)
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26. You may need more than one word to find information on a specific aspect of a topic.
AND
AND
AND
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27. If you are searching for cat stories, for example, the one keyword cat would be too broad and would yield many irrelevant results, such as cats as pets cat diseases, kinds of cats, etc.
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28. If you were searching for cat stories, you would add other words to limit your results to what you want specifically, for example, cat fiction, fiction cats, cat stories, feline fiction.
The Cat
Who
Went Fishing
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29. For the most results, use a variety of terms, such as synonyms and related words.
Thesaurus
In addition to using a dictionary to find synonyms, consult a thesaurus, which lists synonyms and antonyms. You can find a thesaurus in the library.
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30. From a thesaurus entry for the word love:
Synonyms affection, attachment, devotion, fondness Related Word like(s), liking, regard; adoration, idolatry, piety, worship; allegiance, fealty, fidelity, loyalty; emotion, sentiment; crush, infatuation, passion, yearning; ardency, ardor, enthusiasm, fervor, zeal
From Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus
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31. Tip: Also look for other words related to your keyword in your search results. In an article about hip hop music, for example, you might see rap as a related term.
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32. Quick Quiz If you were searching for information on
appropriate dress in a school environment,
which of the following would you use as
keywords?
The appropriate way to dress in a school environment
Correct dress
School dress
School

33. C, school dress, is the correct answer.
A has too many words for an effective search and includes unnecessary words like the, to, in and a.
B does not limit the result of the search to school dress.
D does not limit the results to dress.

34. Credits
Images
Slide 1 – C. G. O’Kelly Library
Slides 2 &3 – Business Source Premier
Other images and sounds – Microsoft Clip Art
Library eTutor Glossary
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus
©2008 Phyllistine Poole, C. G. O’Kelly Library
Winston-Salem State University