Words or phrases that describe your topic generally, and your research question in particular are called keywords. Keywords are the vocabulary that will lead you to discover and unlock relevant sources for your research. Also, brainstorm synonyms or related terms for your keywords. You can never have too many keywords at the start of your research! Avoid using words that don't describe your topic like how, is, cause, effect, etc.
The following are some suggested search terms to get you started. To narrow your search, combine the following terms with other keywords. For example voter registration AND African-Americans, gerrymandering AND Georgia, etc:
Creating a concept map is an effective way to brainstorm search terms.
Source: Credo Reference
Think of each search word as having a set of results that is connected to it. These sets can be combined in different ways to create larger or smaller sets of results. You can also exclude certain sets from your results. Boolean operators — AND, OR, and NOT — are the tools you use to combine these sets of results.
The table below explains how Boolean operators work.
| Boolean Operator | Examples | Results |
|
AND
|
children AND poverty |
AND combines different terms when both must be present. Use AND to narrow a search. |
|
OR
|
children OR youth |
OR combines terms when at least one must be present. Use OR to broaden a search. |
|
NOT
|
java NOT coffee |
NOT eliminates irrelevant terms from a search. Use NOT when you want to exclude all records that contain a certain term. |
