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FYE 112 | Spring 2025

Determine your information need, select keywords, choose a database, evaluate information.

Keywords

Keywords will be main ideas in your research question or topic--typically the nouns.

Using the right keywords will speed up the research process; choosing the wrong keywords can bring to the search to a painfully screeching halt.

How does one think of keywords?  There are several ways to do this:

  • Mindmap.  Use the app found in the box to the left.
  • Pick the very most important nouns from your search.  Generally 2-4.
  • Run a search. Look at your good results.  Within your good results, you'll see other terms being used that you use in your searches.
  • Use a keyword generator.