What is the difference between a keyword and a key phrase? 

A keyword is a single word, and a key phrase is two or more words that go together as a natural unit, placed in quotation marks.

Let's look at some examples:

KEYWORDS

• tomato

• women

• Dracula

• battle

• Beyonce

KEY PHRASES

• "social media"

• "global warming"

• "Lord of the Rings"

• "World War II"

• "Tennessee Williams"

Key phrases are made up of words that, when combined, represent a specific concept. On their own, the words mean one thing, but together they mean something more precise. 

If you don't keep the words together using quotation marks you lose the meaning of the phrase when searching.  Remember, library databases and other resources can't guess what you're looking for.  You have to be very specific with your search!

Doing research for a literature class? Even book titles should be treated as phrases if it is more than one word. It makes your search that much more specific, and helps you get the best results. Along the same lines, it is also helpful to do the same for a person's full name. If are looking for information about Tennessee Williams, and that's all you use in your search (without quotation marks), you might get articles about some other person named Williams who happens to live in Tennessee!