Keywords: What are they and why do they matter so much to the research process?
Before beginning your research, it’s important to have a clear idea about what you want to find. This means you need to be able to accurately describe your topic using keywords. Sometimes this can be difficult if you don’t know much about your topic before you begin. If you find yourself in this position, take a moment to look in a thesaurus or dictionary, or do a quick web search and pay attention to the different ways in which your subject is described.
Keywords are the important concepts or descriptive terms that describe what you are seeking when searching for information in databases, the online catalog, or on the web. Keywords are sometimes also referred to as subject terms, subject headings, descriptors, or index terms.
Below is a list of some keywords related to Nursing. Some of the keywords, or phrases, are different ways of saying the same thing, while others refer to individual aspects of a larger topic.
Examples of keyword phrases related to Nursing:
- Transcultural Nursing
- Multicultural Nursing
- Cultural Competence
- Maternal-Child Nursing
- Nursing pharmacology
- Nursing careers
- Medical-Surgical Nursing
- Evidence-Based Nursing
- Evidence-Based Health Care
- Evidence-Based Practice
- Public Health Nursing
- Nursing Care Plans
- Psychiatric Nursing