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CHMC31 Intermediate Inorganic Chemistry

Keywords Matter

Ask yourself three questions:

  1. What is my topic?
  2. What are the key aspects of this topic?
  3. What are alternate keywords for each aspect?

Brainstorm keywords to use in your search. Pick words that represent each key aspect of your topic (see below for an example).

This process can be challenging. The same idea can be expressed in many ways. To ensure the best results when searching, brainstorm several keywords whenever possible.

Choose Keywords

To search effectively, find the keywords (which are the main ideas) for your research topic. Why? Most search tools don’t understand natural language (i.e. sentences), so searching with keywords can help you find articles on your topic

Keyword Searching Tips

Keyword searching is essentially taking your best guess at the terms which will appear in articles that are about your topic.  This can be a very effective way of searching.  However, you may get a number of irrelevant results because the keywords you chose may appear in irrelevant articles.  You also never know if you've found all the article on your topic. 

Tip: The next time you're using a library catalogue/database or looking at a book or article, take note of the author defined keywords or keywords and subject headings used then try using those terms in your next search.

Build Your Search Using Boolean Logic

Boolean logic is the fancy language databases use to search. Boolean operators connect your keywords together.

The three basic boolean operators are: AND, OR, and NOT. 

Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT

Use the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT to make your search more effective and to find more sources on your topic.

Boolean Modifiers "", *, ()

Use Boolean modifiers such as phrase searching, truncation, and wildcards to make your search more effective and find more sources on your topic.

Improve Your Search Results

Have you tried searching an article database and got too many, or too few sources? In this short tutorial, you will learn tips to improve your search results.

  • Too many results? Add more keywords to narrow your search results.
  • Not enough results? Remove keywords or choose less specific keywords to broaden your search results. 
  • Spell Check! Google your keywords to make sure you spelled them correctly. Your search will not work if your search words are not spelled properly.
  • Thesaurus Different databases prefer different keywords. Use the correct keywords for the database you are using. Look at the keywords that are listed for any relevant articles you retrieve and then try running a new search using those words.
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