Use keywords when searching for sources in Library Search and research databases. Keywords are terms that represent the main ideas associated with your topic. Keywords are often single nouns (e.g., puppies), but they may also consist of multiple words (e.g., dog training).
Searching in library and research databases is different from searching in search engines or generative AI tools, where you might type your whole question into the search bar. When searching research databases, you want to avoid extra words and use only keywords related to your topic, which will result in better search results.
Start by writing down your topic or research question and then note the important terms or phrases. For example, if you are interested in the impact of gender on people’s salary expectations, your keywords might be gender, salary, and expectations. A search like “impact of gender on people's salary expectations" will retrieve fewer results than if you searched for just the keywords gender salary expectations.
You should also brainstorm related terms and synonyms and search with different combinations of terms to see which search retrieves the most relevant results. For the word salary, you might search for terms such as wages, pay, income, or earnings. Here are some examples of research topics, research questions, and possible keywords, (including related terms and synonyms) that you could use to search a database:
| Topic | Research question | Keywords for searching |
| Plastics | How do single-use plastics affect marine ecosystems? | plastics, single-use plastics, plastic pollution, marine pollution, ocean ecosystems, microplastics, marine animals, environmental impact, plastic waste |
| Astrology | Why do people continue to believe in astrology despite limited scientific evidence? | astrology, belief systems, zodiac signs, pseudoscience, personality, horoscopes, popular culture, psychology, science literacy, paranormal beliefs |
| Social media | How does social media use affect the mental health of teenagers? | social media, teenagers, adolescents, mental health, anxiety, depression, screen time, Instagram, TikTok, online behavior, social networking sites |
If you have trouble thinking of different keywords related to your topic, you might find it helpful to ask a generative AI tool to provide a list of keywords related to your topic that you can use to search a research database.
Finally, in some research databases you can combine your search terms using the words AND, OR, and NOT, which are called “Boolean operators.” See search tips for more information on using Boolean operators, as well as other ways to improve your searches for library resources.