When you use an electronic database to search for articles on your topic, it is important to do some brainstorming for good keywords that describe your topic. Start with the keywords that first come to mind, and then add synonyms or related keywords to broaden your search and increase relevant results.
Because the database search engine is looking for the appearance of your keyword in the title, summary (abstract), added notes, and full text (if available) of each article in the database, it's important to think of the variety of words that might describe your topic.
For example, what if you were doing research on group counseling for children who are experiencing grief? You would certainly want to include the words grief and grieving in your search. But are there other words that are related or similar that you might also want to use? How about some of these?
| bereavement | sadness |
| sorrow | mourning |
| loss | |
When you type your keyword search into the database searchbox, enclose all the synonyms you want to use in parentheses, and type the word or between each word. For example: (grief or bereavement or loss). Now the computer will look for the appearance of any or all of those words, giving you more chances to find relevant information!
A thesaurus is a great place to look for synonyms and related words!
Visuwords
A graphical dictionary and thesaurus in one! "Enter words into the search box to look them up or double-click a node to expand the tree. Click and drag the background to pan around and use the mouse wheel to zoom. Hover over nodes to see the definition and click and drag individual nodes to move them around to help clarify connections."
Graph Words: Online Thesaurus
A tool similar to Visuwords above.
Additional keywords (sometimes called descriptors or subject words) are almost always added to the description of each article in a database. This is a great place to scan for more keywords to use. The example below from the ERIC database offers a number of ideas. Look at the blue words listed under Subjects:
The Invisible Griever: Support Groups for Bereaved Children.
By: Healy-Romanello, Mary Ann. Special Services in the Schools, v8 n1 p67-89 1993.
Subjects: Adolescents; Ancillary School Services; Bereavement; Children; Death; Elementary Secondary Education; Grief; Group Counseling; Group Therapy; Groups; Models; Peer Counseling; Program Implementation; School Counseling; Social Support Groups
