ENGL 100 - Expository Writing

Library Research Guide

What Are Keywords?

When you use Google to find information, you type in words or phrases that convey the most important aspects of what you are searching for. For example, if you were searching for information on the deforestation of gorilla habitat in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, you might type into Google: Gorilla Habitat Congo. "Gorilla," "Habitat," and "Congo" are examples of keywords. You should use keywords when searching library databases and other resources.

Keywords & Synonyms

Good keywords are essential to good research.

The more keywords you can think of, the more likely it will be that you will find what you are looking for.

To accomplish this, you can use synonyms to expand your research.

Synonym word map for ''nature''

Advice on Synonyms:

Synonyms make your list of keywords longer
More keywords = better searching = more results

Not all of the results you get from synonym searching will be directly related to your topic. Look at the example to the right to get an idea of how synonyms can broaden your understanding of a given concept.

Key Points:

Make lists of keywords for the main concepts of your research topic
Use single words or simple phrases
Be prepared that this may all change as you learn more information
Be flexible
Use a thesaurus to help generate synonyms

Finding Keywords for Your Topic

Produced by UNCG Libraries, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Keywords Video Transcript (PDF)
This transcript was created to make the related video more accessible.