Recommended Keywords for Researching Your Assignment
Library databases work best when you choose keywords instead of using sentences or full questions. When creating keywords think about:
- What are non-essential words? These words have no direct meaning for your topic. For example: the, Why, How, and, etc.
- What are the concepts or ideas involved? For example: COVID-19, pandemic, internet access, etc.
- Are there specific populations involved? For example: children, senior citizens, Black women, etc.
- Is there a specific location or environment? For example: California, high schools, swamps, etc.
For example, my research question: Does drinking alcohol negatively affect college student grades in the United States?
- Question: What are the words that have no meaning in my question?
- Answer: Does, drinking, negatively, affect, in, the
My research keywords becomes alcohol AND college student AND grades AND United states. Using "And" tells the database to combine all these words in one source.
