Skip to Main Content

Biology 100 & Biology 440 (Neitling)

Selecting Keywords and other Search Tips

One of the greatest challenges in starting a new research project is deciding which search terms best describe your topic as you begin the search for resources.  Try to be really succinct/to the point and use just a couple of keywords instead of typing long sentences. The video explains all of this quickly (less than 2 minutes!), so please watch it now. Here are few more tips:

  • Enter keywords that represent your topic:   
  • Limit searches to two or three keywords:  congenital heart disease       
  • Don't search with sentences, questions, or long phrases.
  • Combine terms with OR to broaden:  
    high blood pressure study
    OR high blood pressure trial (these would find either items)
  • Combine terms with AND to narrow:  Microbiome AND obesity (this would only find items with both these words)
  • Place quotation marks around words you wish to be searched as a phrase: "antibiotic resistance"

Video by CRC Library