Library Lab: Using Keywords

What will we learn in this tutorial?

• What keywords are
  
  
  
• Why keywords are important
  
  
  
• How to choose keywords
  
  
  
• How to come up with synonyms
  
  

• How synonyms affect a search

When you type an entire sentence or question

in Google it knows how to pick out the

important words. This is called a natural

language search.

This is why you can ask Google questions

and usually get okay results. Google's algorithms

rely on more than 200 unique signals that

make it possible to guess what you might

be looking for.

But, what if your professor requires

you to use a scholarly (peer reviewed)

article from a library database for your

assignments.

Library databases and catalogs do not work

the same way as Google. Natural language

searches in library databases often leave

students frustrated, annoyed and usually

reluctant to ask for help. Unfortunately,

library databases can't ignore the unimportant

words you include in your search -

it only confuses them - AND you!

And that's why keywords are so darn

important!

How do you use keywords to find articles

for your research? Keywords are index

terms. The word index comes from Latin,

meaning "pointer finger."

Index terms (keywords) point the way

for a computer to retrieve a particular

document from a database.

Keywords are words that describe your

topic. Keywords come from research

questions.

Say you've chosen to write a paper about

the effects of violent video games on

people.

You could come up with a question like,

"Are people who play video games

at an increased risk of becoming violent?

Let's look at our research question and

choose the most important keywords

from it. Let's remove anything that doesn't

contain a specific meaning...These are

words database cannot ignore!

"Are people who play video games

at an increased risk of becoming violent?"

"are, people, who, play, a, an, risk,

becoming, increased are not important -

play is just a word we use to describe

what people do - increased is tougher

because it gets at the relationship between

video games and violence, but if we use it

might exclude research that suggests video

games might decrease violent behavior.

This leaves us with the terms violent

and video games.

These will be our keywords.

So, we've taken all we can from our original

question. Two keywords may be enough to

begin our research but it's always a good

idea to think of some synonyms we

could also use.

Synonyms are words that have the same

or similar meanings as our keywords.

A thesaurus might be helpful in finding

similar words or you can look at the subject

terms in articles that come up in your

search results.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a

thesaurus "is a book that lists words

in groups of synonyms and related

concepts."

We can also think of some Related terms.

These are words that don't mean the same

thing as your topic but they represent related

concepts. These can be broader or narrower

than your original topic.

A broader term for video games might be

media and behavior for violent would

also work.

using the database called Psychology

& Behavioral Sciences Collection.

Please follow along with me
.

First, let's enter violent and video games

in the search box on the right side of the

screen. Notice, as you begin typing, the

database starts giving you suggested search

terms. It's okay to vary from your original

search if you see something that looks

better, but for now let's stick with our original

choice.

Click on the article, titled "Video games:

The bad, the ugly, and the

(potentially) good."

Click on Result List on top of the article

title to get back to our search results.

On the initial search screen there was a

Full Text and a Scholarly (Peer Reviewed)

Journals box. We forgot to click those

but we can still do it from the page we're on.

You might have to click the Results List to get

back to the correct page. Click the Full Text box

on the left side of the page.

Let's click on the Scholarly

(Peer Reviewed) Journals box.

If you've used the college databases before,

you will probably recognize the format of

Psychology & Behavioral Sciences.

It is an EBSCO database - EBSCO is the

name of the company that distributes

these databases. This is important because

the college subscribes to over 60+ EBSCO

databases. Remember, all EBSCO databases

do your citation for you!

Click on the title of the article:

"Violent video games and delinquent

behavior in adolescents: A risk Factor

perspective."

You may have to use the scroll bar at

the bottom of the screen to move to the

right side of the screen.

Notice the toolbar on the right. There are

options to Add to your Folder, Print, Email,

Save, and the most important icon

is in the center and is called Cite

All EBSCO databases do your citation for

you in 9 different citation styles

 Click the Cite link and choose the MLA

Style format.

Please don't click the "Export to

Bibliographic Management Software"

 at the bottom of the screen. If you were

actually using this you would Click the

Direct Export to RefWorks.

I will demonstrate it to show you

how easy it is to use RefWorks.

Since I have already registered and have

and account, my latest citation is imported

into RefWorks.

 When you have all your sources imported,

click Create Bibliography at the top of the

page. There are options to choose which style

to use - you would choose the MLA 8th Edition

& there are a number of other options about

editing, formatting, etc.

When you finish this tutorial you would

first login to CougarWeb and click on the

Library tab at the top of the page.

In the center of the library home page

Choose the link that says Find Articles

in Databases - Journals, Magazines, etc.

On the next page, click on the letter R in

the alphabetical listing

page. It will take you further down the

page to the R's. Don't forget to print out

the Certificate of Completion if you are

viewing this tutorial for English Lab

Certificate

Please enter your name and email address to retrieve a copy of your completed quiz.

You can enter multiple email addresses separated by commas. If you are doing this for a class, you may need to enter your instructor's email address also.

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