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Developing keywords

Narrowing your topic

Think about moving from a vague concept like "media," to a concrete example of that, like TV, movies, or advertisements.

Here are some questions to ask to narrow down the scope of your research:

  • What time period is your focus?
  • Is there a group of people you want to focus on, such as children?
  • Look for specific terminology, people, or places that can help you target relevant sources.
  • Think of synonyms and related terms - If you can't find what you are looking for, try using a synonym of your term.

 

Search techniques

As you develop keywords and narrow down your topic, there are some techniques you can use to help you find the most relevant resource.

    "Quotes around phrase" - this searches for your phrase in that exact order instead of as separate words.
    • Example: "social media"
  • Truncation: femin* = feminine, feminist, femininity, etc. - this searches for any word that begins with that root
  • Wild card: wom?n = woman, women - similar to truncation, but it searches for words with any letter in the open spot
  • AND - combine your search terms with and to focus your topic
  • OR - combine your search terms with or to search for multiple synonyms at the same time (broadening your search)

Combine keywords and use multiple synonyms or truncation/wild cards to create a complex search string:
(female OR wom?m) AND stereotype AND "social media"

 

Additional strategies

  • Try searching for the author of the source you already found if you are having trouble finding more.
    • On the search results list, you can often click an author's name to perform a search for it.
  • Follow the linked subject terms on an article or source you already found to see of list of related sources (not all databases offer this tool).