Question

Which of the following would be effective ways to derive keywords or search terms from a research
topic? Select all that apply.
1. Using words that authors or experts on the topic use
2. Asking a reference librarian for help
3. Doing some preliminary research to find synonyms or other terms related to the topic
4. Using one word from the research question

Answer 1

Correct choices: 1, 2, and 3.

- 1 is good: use the language experts and authors use (subject headings, jargon).
- 2 is good: librarians specialize in search strategies and controlled vocabularies.
- 3 is good: preliminary searching reveals synonyms, related terms, and variant spellings.

4 is not recommended by itself: using a single word from the question is usually too narrow. Instead pull out the key concepts (usually several words/phrases) and expand them with synonyms and Boolean operators.