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FS 100 - College Success - Murphy

Class Guide

What are keywords?

Keywords are important words/concepts used to find resources (books, articles, pictures of cats, ect.).

  • When you search Google (or any of the other research sites we'll talk about), the computer searches for articles, websites, or books that mention the words you asked for.
  • So, when picking your keywords, imagine the kinds of things you want to find and think of keywords that might be in those resources.

Where do I get my keywords?

Your first keywords will come from your research question.

  • Pull out the most important words or groups of words from your research question (people, places, things).

You can get more keywords from:

  • Related words to your topic that you already know.
  • In the Subject Terms, Subject Headings, or Keyword sections of your sources.
  • Words you see from reading your sources.