LibAnswers

What are keywords?

To find articles, books, videos, or data that will support whatever you are writing or presenting, you need to search library databases and search engines with words <em>used in </em>or <em>used to describe</em> resources about your topic or related topics. Those words are called search terms, or keywords. Selecting appropriate keywords is a big step in executing a successful search-- or coming up empty.

To select keywords, you need to be able to identify your topic, select words that are used in resources about the topic, and use those terms to search.

The process is not quite that straightforward though, as you&rsquo;ll find that articles and books often use a variety of words to describe the same concept (for example, Pancreatectomy or Pancreatoduodenectomy or Duodenopancreatectomy or Pancreatic Fistula Surgery), and topics can have both broader and narrower related ideas that would also work great for your search (Such as Digestive System Fistula or Laparoscopy, in this example).

Some brainstorming is necessary, as well as identifying terms used in the abstracts of useful articles and the subject headings used to describe them in library databases. Those terms can then be used to search other databases and search engines.

Make a list of keywords

When you Google, you can ask it a question, much the same way you'd ask a person a question, and you will always get some search results that are at least a little helpful, as in the below example.

https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/173001/images/what_is_effective_way_google.png

While you may find some articles in a library database by searching this way, you are more likely to find many more if you search with two or three keywords that describe the topic.

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https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/173001/images/pancreatic_cinahl.png

Remember synonyms and antonyms?

And you thought you'd never need to know what they are!

Synonyms are words that have the same or similar meaning. Antonyms are words that have the opposite meaning. Sometimes you'll want to use the antonyms of your search terms, particularly if you are researching the success or failure of a treatment or activity, such the success or failure of weight loss or smoking cessation interventions. Research which indicates the factors which increase compliance AND research articles which investigate the factors leading to dropping out of a treatment would be useful to you.

The below shows a Google Scholar search, limited to resources published 2015-2020, for: smoking cessation; and ((failure or drop out or recurrence or relapse) or (abstinence or success or completion or compliance))

https://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/173001/images/smoking_cessation_nested_google_scholar.png

Abbreviations and acronyms for tests, measures, or conditions

Abbreviations are shortened forms of words or phrases, and acronyms are abbreviations formed from the initial letters of words in a phrase, often pronounced as a word, such as NICU. In the health sciences, abbreviations and acronyms abound! To name a few:

DO or Doctor of Osteopathy

ECMO or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

MRI or magnetic resonance imaging

NICU or neonatal intensive care unit

HAI or hospital-acquired infection

Searching for both the abbreviation or acronym and the complete word or phrase will help you find the most results. You can do this by connecting the terms with OR in a single search box in a database or doing a string of OR terms in parentheses in Google Scholar or PubMed.

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