This guide was created to support students in Corey Adler's Women's Studies (WS) 151 class. The information and links in this guide will assist you with your research based writing assignments. Tips on doing research using Leeward Community College Library resources are included as well as links to relevant online and print resources.
Why use keywords? When you type in a question into the computer, it looks at all the words, not just the idea you had in mind. To narrow your search to include only the best results, you need to use keywords. Keywords are important words or terms that are used to search research databases for information related to a topic. Be sure to use synonyms and related (broader or narrower) terms.
Keywords describe the concepts involved in your topic.
Sample topic: Is the #MeToo Movement an appropriate response to sexual assault and harassment?
Instead of typing in every word, use the keywords:
"#metoo" "sexual assault" "harassment"
Truncation: allows you to increase your search results. Take the root word and add a symbol, such as "*" search for various word endings at the same time.
Example: sex* to find sex, sexes, sexual, sexism
Quotation marks: Search exact phrase by using quotes.
Example: "sexual harassment" or "body image"
Use a Thesaurus for synonyms: violence, abuse, assault, force, battery
Disciplines (like medicine) have their own terminology, use oncology instead of cancer
