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Beth Evans, Librarian - Introduction and Quick Tips: Keywords and Narrowing

An introduction to the Brooklyn College librarian, Professor Beth Evans, and basic tips for doing research.

Keywords Searching - Breaking Down a Long Search Phrase

Write down your key terms and think about synonyms that will capture different results in your searches:

 bensonhurst              immigra*                      assimilation
   brooklyn               chinese-american              attitude*
    urban                       asian                            gentrification

Link keywords together using and. Use or for synonyms and related terms. Use quotes for exact phrases.
e.g.  “second generation”  and  immigra*  and (poverty or economic)
         immigra*  and  brooklyn  and  (inequality or bias or prejudice)

Identifying a Keyword

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Constructing a Keyword Search: Next Steps

pull out keywords

1. Pull out your keyword(s).

get keyword ready to fit

2. Your keyword is ready to fit into the search you will construct to solve the research puzzle.

consider additional keyword(s)

3. Consider additional keywords to add that might help your search.

boolean connector and

4. Use the Boolean connector "AND" to join keywords that you want to find together in articles.

keywords connected for your search

5. You now have a search sequence of connected keywords.