ENGL 516 - Written Communication for the Sciences

Welcome! This guide is designed to help you learn how to use K-State Libraries' many resources to complete your ENGL 516 assignments.

Library Research Guide

Keywords

Good keywords are essential to good research. Develop a list of keywords before you start searching.

To start the list, ask yourself two questions:

1. What do I know about my topic?

2. What do I want to know about my topic?

Write the answers to those questions using single words or simple phrases. These become your keywords.

Developing this list is an iterative process. Your list of keywords may change as you learn more information through your research.

Keyword Chart
Worksheet from the book Learner-Centered Pedagogy to help generate keywords for a topic based on what you need to know about the topic.
Keyword Map
Once you know what you're looking for, use this worksheet from the book Learner-Centered Pedagogy to increase the number of terms related to your research question.

About the Databases

Databases
Databases are a place to find journal, magazine and newspaper articles and sometimes other items like electronic books, dissertation chapters, and more. Databases are accessible from off campus to all current students, faculty, and staff with an eID and password.
E-Journals
Use e-journals to determine whether or not we subscribe to a journal and its format (print, electronic or both).

Finding Keywords for your Topic

This brief video (0:59) from the University Library at UNC Greensboro explains how to turn your research question into useful keywords. Transcript.

If you would like more practice with keywords, check out the rest of their tutorial linked below!

Keyword Creation Tutorial from UNCG

Our Advice

More keywords give you more relevant results so spend time thinking of your keywords.

Make lists of keywords for the main concepts of your research topic.
Use single words or simple phrases.
Use a thesaurus to help generate synonyms.

As you learn more information through your research your topic might change.

Add keywords based on your searching and reading.
Be flexible and adaptable in your thinking.

Consider the following when brainstorming keywords:

Broad / narrow
Good / bad
Who / how / why / where
Impact / Outcome

The first page of our research process worksheet provides space for your keywords:

Research Process Worksheet
2-page worksheet from the book Learner-Centered Pedagogy with sections on choosing a topic, brainstorming search strategies, finding resources on your topic, and modifying your search.

Keywords and Synonyms

Why Keywords?

Because good keywords are essential to good research.
The more keywords you can think of, the more likely you will find what you are looking for.

Why Synonyms?

Synonyms make your list of keywords longer. More keywords = better searching = more results. Look at the example below to get an idea of how synonyms can broaden your understanding of a given concept:

Synonyms Example

"effect" visualization from visualthesaurus.com
Search for a term in this thesaurus tool to get a concept map like the one above for "effect."