Research Help

Finding Keywords

Now that we have an idea of what our topic is going to be, we need to figure out how to search the databases. To do this, we need to figure out what our keywords are going to be. 

Taking our topic and asking it as a research question can be a helpful foundation! Here are some tips to find what keywords will be best for your research: 

• Identify the main ideas of our topic. This is the main subject, and what we are hoping to find/prove. 
  • Use a chart or worksheet, like the chart below, to help you map out your main idea, and supporting ideas. 
    • These words will become your keywords! 
• Brainstorm synonyms that could also be used to describe your topic. 
• Test out different keyword combinations in the databases. 

Don't worry if your first try didn't bring back the results you were hoping for. Depending on your topic, you might need to try a few different combinations, search in a different database, or reach out to a librarian for support! 

Keyword Map

Below is an example of a chart that we can use to help us map out our keyword options. You can see that each column has a category that helps us break down our research question into keywords. 

Now, Global Warming, Polar Bears, Arctic, and Sea Levels are all keywords I can use in my search! Download your chart here to get started. 
 

Creating a Search String

Creating a search string, or how we type all this into the databases, is just as important as picking the right keywords! Now that we have our keywords from the previous sections, we can work on putting them together to get the best results. 

When we search Google, we often use what is called "natural word phrasing". We ask Google questions in full sentences. Like... What year was Westminster College founded? If we search Reeves Library like that, we don't get very good results. 

So, How Do We Type In Keywords?

Through Boolean Operators! This is just a fancy word for using AND in between our main ideas. So, using the keywords from the keyword map on the previous page we have:

Global Warming AND Polar Bears AND Arctic AND Sea Levels

Here is how that gets typed into our Discovery Search: 

Note that I didn't use all 4 keywords in this search. You can pick and choose and do multiple searches with various combinations of keywords. 

WestMO Tip: Use quotations around keywords that are 1 idea, but multiple words like "global warming" and "polar bears". This will help you get better results! 

The search box automatically only has 3 keyword slots, but you can add or subtract as many as you like! If you want to search all 4 keywords at once, all you need to do is click the plus sign on the right side to bring up another box. 

 WestMO Tip: Be careful of adding too many keywords! This can often make our searches way too specific, and we will have trouble bringing up many results. 2-4 is the sweet spot. 

Too Many Results? Try Narrowing! 

In research, if our topic is too broad, we might have trouble finding quality sources for our assignment. If we search for very general topics, that are very popular (like global warming), we will get millions of results that discuss global warming in a variety of different ways. How can we refine our results to help us?

• What is the length of your paper or project? Shorter assignments will be more successful with a very specific research topic. If your topic is too general, you might have a hard time narrowing your research down enough to have a successful thesis. 
• What do you find interesting about this topic? Is there a subtopic, or a specific aspect of your broader topic that you find interesting? For example, if I am researching global warming, I might want to narrow it down to specifically how global warming is affecting our polar bear population. Polar bears would be my subtopic with my larger topic being global warming. You need to consider the subtopics that help you formulate a research question or a thesis statement. 
• What are the specifics of your topic? Thinking about very specific details will help you narrow down your search and make your research more compelling for your readers. What are some things we can be specific about? 
  • Geographic Locations: Does your topic affect a specific geographic area? For example, if I was researching global warming, I can focus my research specifically on Antarctica, and how global warming is affecting the region. Another example is looking at groups of people in location types (rural, urban, etc.). 
  • Specific Populations: Focusing your research to be about a specific group of people can be a great way to narrow your topic. You can think about how your topic impacts various groups, like medical trials for teens or elderly adults, or how technology in classrooms affects elementary-aged children. You can be as specific about your population as you would like, but make sure it somehow relates back to your overall thesis. 
     

Too Few Results? Try Broadening! 

Sometimes you might need to widen the lens of your research, instead of narrow it. If you already have a very specific idea of what you are wanting to research, but are struggling with finding resources, you might need to take a few steps back. Sometimes broadening our topic can help us have more successful research. 

For example, let's say you are researching children's development in a specific small-town school district in Missouri. You might not find a lot of academic peer-reviewed research about that specific school district. You need to widen your topic by including all rural school districts, and then get some district-specific information from local websites to help build your research. 

Here are some common issues that might cause you to broaden your topic: 

• Your topic is too specific. Just like the example listed above, you might not find a peer-reviewed article that covers every specific aspect of your research question or thesis statement. As a researcher, we need to be willing to read various articles and condense the ideas into our own words. 
• Your topic is too new. Sometimes, if a topic is very current, you might struggle with finding enough peer-reviewed academic sources. It might be all over the newspapers and magazines, but peer-reviewing takes a lot of time. Articles on your topic might be in the works, but they will not be published right away. For example, during the 2020 Pandemic, there wasn't much peer-reviewed content about COVID-19. However, now (a few years later) we can find academic articles that cover COVID-19. 
• It's a topic that relies a lot on personal experiences. Sometimes if a topic is very personal, and relies on the experiences of a specific group of people, you might not find much academic research available. For example, many years ago, there were very few academic resources available for information on the experience of Transgender people. Most writings were from blogs and websites, rather than academic journals and databases. However, now, many more academic journals focus on the Transgender experience. 
• You might not be searching in the correct place. Certain databases on the Reeves Library website will be better than others for various topics. We have subject-specific databases, as well as excellent general databases. If you feel you might be searching in the wrong spot, ask a librarian for support! 
   

Remember that you can always reach out to Reeves Library for help if you are feeling stuck!