Identifying Keywords/Key Phrases/Key Concepts

KEY CONCEPTS

The use of keywords/key concepts alone to research a question may not always give the searcher the greatest possible number of relevant information sources.  Therefore, it is often necessary to determine any synonyms or related terms that could be used in the search strategy.  The use of these will expand the possibility of retrieving as many documents as possible.

The following example expands the search terms available for each key word from our previous search.

KEY CONCEPTS

SEARCH TERMS

(Note: In this case "*" after the word DAYTIME  NAP indicates truncation.  In other words, the computer will search for both the terms NAP and NAPS.  Other truncation symbols such as ! or ?, etc. can be found in the databases's HELP contents.

Definition: Truncation is the shortening of a search term.  This is useful when you need to find variations of a term (i.e. psychology, psychologist, psychological). Using the asterisk (*) will expand your search.

FOR EXAMPLE: 

psych* - finds records referring to psychology, psychiatry, psychological, psychiatrist, psychosocial, etc.
dream* - finds records referring to dreams, dreaming, dreamed, dreamt, etc.
insomn* - finds records referring to insomniac, insomnious, insomnolence, insomnolent, etc.

Example of another search statement.

Upon completing some background reading about sleep disorders, I became curious as to what types of behavior disorders might occur in children.  When I combined these three concepts, sleep disorders, behavior disorders and children in my mind, I developed the following search statement.  

Search Statement : What is the relationship between sleep disorders and behavior disorders in children?

KEY CONCEPTS

In searching a database you can expand your search by using synonyms such as CHILDREN or YOUTH.  A synonym is a word having the same meaning as another word.

KEY CONCEPTS

SEARCH TERMS 

"Now that you have completed, Identifying Keywords/Key Concepts, let's move onto the next section.  To proceed, click on the Subject Searching link below."

What is a Research Strategy? | Selecting a Topic & Locating Background Information | Formulating a Search Statement | Identifying Keywords/Key Concepts | Subject Searching | Combining Search Terms -- Boolean Operators | Selecting a Database | Documenting Your Research | Analyzing Information Sources | Evaluating Results | Glossary