Brainstorming & Keywords

No matter where you'll be searching, you will need to pick out the most important Main Concepts, or Keywords  for your topic. These are generally nouns. 

 

If your topic is: Are the foods served in school cafeterias contributing to the increase in cases of obese youth in the U.S.? You will want to look for related words for cafeterias, obese, and youth.

 

Other related words for cafeterias and obese might be:


obese: obesity, overweight, weight, body mass index, BMI cafeteria: lunch program, lunchroom, soft drinks, junk food, food services, food, vending machines

 

A list of keywords related to youth could include these terms:

  • teenager or teenagers
  • adolescent or adolescents
  • young people
  • youngster or youngsters
  • child or children
  • kid or kids
  • boy or boys
  • girl or girls
  • student or students

 

Note that we've included variations of keywords such as verbs and nouns. Include any alternate spellings of words or abbreviations, too. You may have thought of some words we didn't. Remember, it is best to avoid using long phrases.

 

If you have trouble coming up with a topic or its keywords:

  • Check an encyclopedia for ideas and concepts such as the World Book Encyclopedia or Wikipedia.
  • Do some exploratory searches in a periodical database like Gale Academic OneFile Select. Look at the abstracts or summaries of articles that interest you; they may give you ideas for topics. Also, look at their subject terms for possible keywords.
  • If you need help, ask a reference librarian.