View
214
Download
1
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
Tips for Choosing and Using Keywords
writers of the harlem renaissance harlem renaissance writers
african american writers 20th century afro american
black poets OR novelists black novelists AND poets
If you are conducting an author or a title search, the search term is evident. But for other types of searches, the most effective search terms might not be so evident.
?
For information on a topic, the most common and the best kind of search is a usually a keyword search.
tax rebate
Find the words that are key
Definition of keyword: The word or words that relate to a particular topic. Keywords or phrases are used to construct a search statement to find information.
From Library eTutor Glossary at www.utas.edu.au/library/etutor/main/webzglos.htm
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
Follow these suggestions for choosing and using keywords:
1. Find the words that are key.
2. Don’t use too many words.
3. Use nouns.
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
3. Connect a series of keywords
with Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT.
4. Use a variety of keywords, such as synonyms and related words.
5. Use more than one word to find information on a specific aspect of a topic.
If you were assigned to write a paper on the effects of global warming on our environment, you would first select the most important word or words in the statement, the keywords.
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
Quick Quiz
Which two words would you use as the keywords for this assignment?
Write a five-page paper on the effects of global warming.
Answer: global warming
Don’t use too many words
• Limit your search term to one, two, three, or—at the most—four words.
• You would not use all the words that your instructor used to describe your research assignment, such as the effects of global warming on our environment.
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
Quick Quiz
Would these words make a good search term? Why?
The effects of global warming on our environment
Answer: No, these are too many words.
Use nouns (words that namepeople, places, things and ideas) as
keywords
Images: Microsoft Clip Art
Noun
Avoid using the following parts of speech as keywords:
• Verbs (words that name action or condition)
• Adjectives (words that describe things)
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
Avoid using the following parts of speech as
keywords--continued
• Adverbs (words like slowly, very, easy, and about that tell how and to what extent something was done or appears)
• Articles (the, a, an)
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
Avoid using the following parts of speech as
keywords--continued
• Prepositions (words like at, in, under, into, etc., that show relationships among words)
Images: Microsoft Clip Art
If you don’t know what part of speech a word is, look it up in a dictionary.
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
In the phrase the effects of global warming on our environment, the underlined words are not nouns.
That leaves these words: effects, global warming, environment as keywords.
Quick Quiz
Which words in the following statement
are keywords?
The disadvantages of using Facebook
Answer: disadvantages
Connect keywords with the Boolean operators AND, OR,
NOT
AND AND
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
When the keywords are two or more words, use AND to connect them for results with the words combined.
Note: Putting the words in quotation marks also yields results with the terms used together.
“ ”
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
Use AND to limit results to those
containing all the connected terms.
Microsoft Clip Art
For example, if the keywords are bacon
AND eggs, the results will include both
words used together.
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
Use OR to expand the results to
those containing the keywords
together and separately.
For example, if the keywords are bacon OR
eggs, some results will include bacon only,
some eggs only, and others both bacon and
eggs.
Images: Microsoft Clip Art
Use NOT to exclude a term from the results.
For example, if the keywords are
eggs NOT bacon, your results will be limited
to those containing eggs. (Hold the bacon.)
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
You may need more than one word to find information on a specific aspect of a topic.
AND AND AND
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
If you are searching for cat stories, for example, the one keyword cat would be too broad and would yield many irrelevant results, such as cats as pets cat diseases, kinds of cats, etc.
Images and sound: Microsoft Clip Art
If you were searching for cat stories, you would add other words to limit your results to what you want specifically, for example, cat fiction, fiction cats, cat stories, feline fiction.
The Cat
Who
Went FishingImage and sound: Microsoft Clip Art
For the most results, use a variety of terms, such as synonyms and related words.
In addition to using a dictionary to find synonyms, consult a thesaurus, which lists synonyms and antonyms. You can find a thesaurus in the library.
Thesaurus
Image: Microsoft Clip Art
From a thesaurus entry for the word love:
Synonyms affection, attachment, devotion, fondnessRelated Word like(s), liking, regard; adoration, idolatry, piety, worship; allegiance, fealty, fidelity, loyalty; emotion, sentiment; crush, infatuation, passion, yearning; ardency, ardor, enthusiasm, fervor, zeal
From Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus Image: Microsoft Clip Art
• Tip: Also look for other words related to your keyword in your search results. In an article about hip hop music, for example, you might see rap as a related term.
Image and sound: Microsoft Clip Art
Quick Quiz
If you were searching for information onappropriate dress in a school environment,which of the following would you use as keywords?
A. The appropriate way to dress in a school environment
B. Correct dressC. School dressD. School
C, school dress, is the correct answer.
A has too many words for an effective search and includes unnecessary words like the, to, in and a.
B does not limit the result of the search to school dress.
D does not limit the results to dress.
Credits
ImagesSlide 1 – C. G. O’Kelly LibrarySlides 2 &3 – Business Source PremierOther images and sounds – Microsoft Clip Art
Library eTutor Glossary www.utas.edu.au/library/etutor/main/webzglos.htm
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus
©2008 Phyllistine Poole, C. G. O’Kelly Library Winston-Salem State University
Recommended