How do I choose keywords when doing research?

When searching the library's research databases, use keywords that capture key concepts about your topic. A search with keywords like gender AND salary will retrieve better results than using a phrase like "impact of gender on salary."

Use scholarly encyclopedias to discover more keywords. Scholarly encyclopedias contain background information, as well as scholarly language and keywords, people's names, or place names. See our FAQ on background information linked below for more information on scholarly encyclopedias.

Searches work best if you connect keywords and short phrases that are linked together with the Boolean operator AND:

Not focused: Do college students in Williamsport, Pennsylvania reflect the demographics of the surrounding area?
Better: diversity AND colleges AND Williamsport

If your search is too broad, there will be too many results. More specific keywords will narrow the results:

Too broad: diversity AND education
Better: diversity AND colleges AND history

If your search is too narrow, there will not be enough results. Less specific keywords will find more results:

Too narrow: history AND diversity AND private universities AND Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Better: history AND diversity AND universities AND Pennsylvania