Using the Best Search Words

Keywords and Boolean Searching

Once you have a research question or topic, it's time to create a list of search terms so you can find the best resources. Our friends at Harper College Library in Palatine, Illinois created this video to help you choose the best keywords for searching your topic. Why use keywords and not an entire sentence? This 2 minute and 40 second video will help you answer that question:

Once you have search terms there are tips and tricks to get the most out of your searching. Let's learn the language of searching, it's called Boolean.

Great! Now you know what to put in the search box for more effective search results. What about those results? The resource that is best to use has a lot to do with which topic you chose. Confused? Not for long. Click on that next button and find out about the "Information Timeline".

Citations & Attributions

"Using Keywords to Search Links to an external site." by Harper College Library  Links to an external site. Links to an external site.on You Tube Links to an external site.

"Online Research: Tips for Effective Search Strategies Links to an external site." by Sarah Clark Links to an external site. is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND Links to an external site.