All literature searching is a initially a process of building just enough knowledge so that you can search more effectively.
Knowing what words you use to communicate your topic to a database takes testing or experimentation. One of the first places you may want to look to build a surface level understanding of your topic is Wikipedia.
Here are a few Wikipedia starting places that you can mine for useful keywords or phrases:
As you scan topic articles, begin to generate a list of keywords and phrases that communicate your subject. The broader your terms, the more general your results will be. The more specific your terms, the more focused your results will be.
Consider building a table to organize your keywords:
| Key concept | Related terms |
|---|---|
| Philosopher's Walk | Taddle Creek, McCaul's Pond, Royal Ontario Museum, Trinity College, Faculty of Law, and more |
| Back Campus | Back Campus Fields, University College, and more |
| University of Toronto | U of T, King's College (Toronto), University College, and more |
