Keywords are words or phrases which best describe the main ideas of your research topic/question. Before you start searching, it's helpful to brainstorm and make a list of keywords which you can use. You can combine these keywords and perform different searches on the library website, databases, and Google.
Authors and subject experts may use different words, terms, or phrases to describe your topic. You may not have the best keywords for your topic when you begin searching. As you continue to do different searches, you'll discover more keywords within the sources in your search results. These can include words which are related to your topic, synonyms for your topic, and words subject experts use to describe your topic. Take note of these new terms since you can use them to search your topic.
Step 1: Let's start by figuring out the main ideas or keywords for the research question:
| Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 | Keyword 3 |
| lack of sleep | "college students" | academic performance |
Step 2: Since others may use different words and phrases to describe the topics, let's think of other keywords we can use. This can include synonyms and related terms for the research topic.
| Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 | Keyword 3 |
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Step 3: Once we have a list of keywords, we can create different combinations we can use on different searches. For example:
| Keyword | Keyword | Keyword | |
| Search 1 |
"sleep deprivation" |
"college students" |
grades |
| Search 2 | "sleep deprivation" | "college students" | academic performance |
| Search 3 | sleeplessness | "post-secondary students" | grades |