Before you embark on your database search, take a few moments to identify keywords, which will be a timesaver for you. Some things to try:
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Write down any research questions you have about your topic; these should be open-ended (starting with How...? or Why...?)
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Identify the key concepts from your research question (look at the nouns)
- Write down synonyms for those key concepts
Taking a few minutes to think about and identify some keywords before starting your search will help you search more efficiently, which will save you time (and frustration).
- Identify important concepts from your research question (look for nouns)
- Brainstorm some synonyms (to help you find more information)
- Keep track of useful terms you discover during research and add those to your set of keywords
Example research question: How does diet, foraging, and ranging behavior impact primate sociality?
(Identify the keywords in this research question)
diet | foraging | ranging | primate | sociality |
nutrition | feeding | movement pattern | chimpanzee | social systems |
food | grazing | free ranging | gibbon | polygynandry |