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Research & Writing

Keywords vs Sentences

When searching the library catalogue or in one of our databases, use keywords rather than full sentences.

  • ✅ keywords and terms
  • ❌ full sentences

Identifying Keywords

Follow the steps below to identify keywords on your research topic.

1. Identify your Research Topic or Question

Research questions are often provided by your instructor but in some cases you might be required to develop your own research question.

  • For example, “What role does nature play in Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake?”

If you need assistance selecting a research topic, consult your instructor.

Library staff can offer helpful strategies for conducting research on the topic you choose.

2. Identify the Major Concepts in your Topic

"What role does nature  play in Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake?”

Major concepts pulled from the research question:

  • Nature
  • Oryx and Crake
  • Margaret Atwood

3. Build a List of Keywords

You will need to build upon these major concepts with related words and synonyms.

Using a thesaurus to build up on the concept of nature, we added the following keywords to our list:

Nature:

  • Natural
  • Environment
  • Landscape
  • Natural world
  • Ecology
  • Ecosystem

4. Do Some Background Research

Sometimes some background research is needed to identify a few more keywords onyour topic.

For example, by looking through the novel, Oryx and Crake, we found a few more kewyords related to our major concept:

  • Genetic engineering
  • “MaddAdam Trilogy”
  • Crakers

5. Keep Editing your Keyword List

As you conduct more research on your topic:

  • Add in new keywords you learn more about your topic
  • Cross out unhelpful keywords from your list
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