Keywords - 1) What Are Keywords?

What Are Keywords?

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT:

Keywords are the most important tools used for research, whether in a database or in a browser. Without great keywords, you don't have a great search! This section will help you learn to identify keywords in a topic sentence or thesis statement.

WHAT TO DO:

Watch the video.
Review the examples.
Take Self-Check Quiz.
Go to Part 2, Key Phrases.

What Are Keywords: Video

What are Keywords? (video transcript)

Keywords are the most important tools you use to do research, in a database or in a broswer. Without great keywords, you don't have a great search!

A keyword is a specific word that describes your topic, generally pulled from your topic sentence or thesis statement.

Let's look at an example:

Say your topic sentence is "Social media has changed the way we communicate at work."

Break that down into individual words and phrases. You know you can ignore the really common words like "has" or "at" or "way". Then look at what you believe the MOST IMPORTANT words and phrases are - those words or phrases that if you leave out, your topic might no longer make sense.

In this case, it would be "social media", "communicate", and "work". See how that works? Look at the next example if you're still not sure, then try the practice at the end.

Another Example

Let's walk through another example:

My topic is "Females have brought a positive element to the military."

My keywords in this topic are "women" and "military" and "positive".

Why?

I want to find information about women in the military, not in any other occupation. So "military" needs to be a keyword. If I don't include "military" as a keyword, then I could get articles about women in education, or physics, or anything!

I'm not looking for information on men in military, so I also need to make sure "women" is a keyword.

Finally, I want to find articles that discuss the POSITIVE aspects of women in the military. If I don't include "positive" as a keyword, I might get articles that talk about roles of women in the military, or challenges, or other issues.

Why didn't I use "element" or "brought"? Think about this: Are those words as important as the others? Can you rephrase your topic sentence without using them and still have the same topic? They don't convey a specific concept the way the others do...they merely support it. So try to avoid supporting words and focus on the keywords - the really important concepts that are critical to your topic.

PRO TIP 1

When you start breaking down your topic sentence think about the words that absolutely cannot be omitted. Databases are literal. If you do not omit non-critical words then the library resource you are searching in may lead you down the wrong trail!

Go to Part 2

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse