Creating effective keywords is a crucial skill for conducting research, as it helps find relevant and reliable sources efficiently. This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide to generating keywords for a research topic. The process is simple, practical, and designed to work with databases like JSTOR, Gale Academic OneFile, or even general search engines like Google Scholar.
Tutorial: Generating Keywords for a Research Topic
Step 1: Understand Your Research Topic
- What to Do: Start by clearly defining your research topic or question. Write it down in a complete sentence to understand its main focus.
- Why It Matters: A clear topic helps you identify the core concepts to base your keywords on.
- Example: Suppose your topic is: “How did the Industrial Revolution impact factory workers in the United States?”
- Main concepts: Industrial Revolution, factory workers, United States, impact.
Step 2: Break Down the Topic into Core Concepts
- What to Do: Identify the 2–4 main ideas or components of your topic. These are the building blocks of your keywords.
- How to Do It:
- Look for nouns or noun phrases that represent the key ideas in your topic.
- Ignore general words like “how,” “did,” or “in” unless they’re part of a specific phrase.
- Example (from above):
- Core concepts: Industrial Revolution, factory workers, United States, impact.
- Pro Tip: Write each concept on a separate sticky note or in a list to keep them organized.
Step 3: Brainstorm Synonyms and Related Terms
- What to Do: For each core concept, think of synonyms, alternative terms, or related ideas that might appear in articles. This expands your search possibilities.
- How to Do It:
- Use a thesaurus (online or physical) to find synonyms.
- Consider broader, narrower, or related terms.
- Think about how scholars might describe the concept in academic writing.
- Example:
- Industrial Revolution: industrialization, 19th-century industry, technological revolution.
- Factory workers: laborers, industrial workers, manufacturing employees, working class.
- United States: USA, America, U.S. industry.
- Impact: effects, consequences, influence, outcomes.
- Pro Tip: Create a table or list to organize synonyms for each concept. For example:
| Core Concept | Synonyms/Related Terms |
| Industrial Revolution| industrialization, technological revolution |
| Factory workers | laborers, industrial workers, working class |
| United States | USA, America, U.S. industry |
| Impact | effects, consequences, influence |
Step 4: Combine Keywords Using Boolean Operators
- What to Do: Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine your keywords effectively in a search. This helps refine your results.
- How to Use Boolean Operators:
- AND: Connects different concepts to narrow your search (e.g., Industrial Revolution AND factory workers).
- OR: Combines synonyms to broaden your search (e.g., factory workers OR laborers).
- NOT: Excludes irrelevant topics (e.g., factory workers NOT Europe).
- Use quotation marks for exact phrases (e.g., “Industrial Revolution”).
- Example:
- Search string: “Industrial Revolution” AND (“factory workers” OR laborers) AND (“United States” OR USA)
- This searches for articles that mention the Industrial Revolution, factory workers or laborers, and the United States or USA.
- Pro Tip: Practice writing 2–3 search strings with different combinations of your keywords to see which gives the best results.
Step 5: Adapt Keywords for Specific Databases
- What to Do: Tailor your keywords to the database you’re using (e.g., JSTOR). Some databases use specific terms or subject headings.
- How to Do It:
- Check the database’s thesaurus or subject terms (often linked in the search interface) to find standardized terms.
- For JSTOR, look at the “Subject” tags in article records after an initial search to find terms scholars use.
- For example, JSTOR might use “industrialization” or “labor history” instead of “factory workers.”
- Example:
- If “factory workers” yields few results, try “labor history” or “working class” after checking JSTOR’s subject terms.
- Pro Tip: If you are using a library database, ask a librarian for help finding the database’s thesaurus or subject terms.
Step 6: Test and Refine Your Keywords
- What to Do: Run your search in the database and review the results. Adjust your keywords if you get too many or too few results.
- How to Refine:
- Too Many Results: Add more specific terms (e.g., “textile workers” instead of “factory workers”) or use NOT to exclude irrelevant topics (e.g., NOT Europe).
- Too Few Results: Use broader terms (e.g., “industry” instead of “Industrial Revolution”) or include more synonyms with OR.
- Check abstracts or article titles for new keywords you hadn’t considered.
- Example:
- If “Industrial Revolution” AND “factory workers” yields too many results, try “Industrial Revolution” AND “textile workers” AND “United States.”
- If too few, try “industrialization” OR “Industrial Revolution” AND “laborers.”
- Pro Tip: Keep a notebook or document to track which keywords worked best and what results you found.
Step 7: Use Filters to Focus on Scholarly Sources
- What to Do: After running your search, use the database’s filters to ensure you’re finding recent, peer-reviewed articles.
- How to Do It (specific to JSTOR):
- Filter by Content Type: Select “Journals” or “Articles.”
- Filter by Publication Date: Choose a range like 2015–2025 for recent perspectives.
- Filter by Discipline: Select relevant fields like History, American Studies, or Economics.
- Ensure articles are from peer-reviewed journals (most JSTOR journals are peer-reviewed, but check the journal’s description).
- Pro Tip: If you’re unsure if an article is peer-reviewed, look for the journal’s name and confirm it’s an academic journal (e.g., Journal of American History). You can find this information on the journal's website or via Wikipedia.
Step 8: Practice with an Example Topic
- Topic: “The impact of social media on teenage mental health.”
- Core Concepts: social media, teenage mental health, impact.
- Synonyms/Related Terms:
- Social media: social networking, online platforms, Instagram, TikTok.
- Teenage mental health: adolescent well-being, teen depression, youth anxiety.
- Impact: effects, consequences, influence.
- Search String:
- “social media” AND (“teenage mental health” OR “adolescent well-being”) AND (effects OR consequences)
- Test and Refine: Run the search in JSTOR, check results, and adjust terms (e.g., use “social networking” or “teen depression” if needed).
Step 9: Keep Track of Your Keywords
- What to Do: Maintain a list of your keywords, search strings, and results to stay organized.
- How to Do It:
- Use a table or spreadsheet to record core concepts, synonyms, and search strings.
- Note which searches gave the best results and why.
- Example Table:
| Core Concept | Synonyms/Related Terms | Search String Used | Results (Good/Bad) |
| Industrial Revolution| industrialization, 19th-century industry | “Industrial Revolution” AND laborers | Good: 50 relevant articles |
| Factory workers | laborers, working class | “industrialization” AND “working class” | Bad: Too few results |
Step 10: Ask for Help if Needed
- What to Do: If you’re struggling to find good keywords or relevant articles, seek help from a teacher, librarian, or online resources.
- How to Do It:
- Ask Mr. Moore for help with keyword strategies or database navigation.
- Consult video tutorials or online guides from library websites (e.g., Purdue OWL or university library tutorials).
- If using JSTOR or another electronic database, check their “Help” section for tips on searching.
Additional Tips:
- Start Simple: Begin with 2–3 keywords and build from there. Don’t overcomplicate your search.
- Practice Patience: Finding the right articles takes trial and error. Test different keyword combinations.
- Read Abstracts: Skim article abstracts to see if they’re relevant before diving into the full text.
- Stay Organized: Save or bookmark articles you like, and keep track of citations to avoid plagiarism.
Example Workflow:
1. Topic: “How did the Industrial Revolution change transportation in the United States?”
2. Core Concepts: Industrial Revolution, transportation, United States, change.
3. Synonyms:
- Industrial Revolution: industrialization, 19th-century industry.
- Transportation: railroads, steamships, canals.
- United States: USA, America.
- Change: impact, transformation, development.
4. Search String: “Industrial Revolution” AND (railroads OR steamships) AND (“United States” OR USA)
5. Run Search in JSTOR:
- Filter for Articles, 2015–2025, History discipline.
- Check results for peer-reviewed journals like Technology and Culture.
6. Refine if Needed: If too few results, try “industrialization” AND transportation AND USA.
7. Save and Cite: Save relevant articles to your JSTOR account and export citations in MLA format.
By following this tutorial, you can generate effective keywords to find relevant, peer-reviewed articles in JSTOR, Gale, EBSCO, or other databases.