Keywords and Search Scope
Purpose: Use keywords to search in databases to find information about your research
Keywords are words or phrases that are significant to what you are researching. First, identify the ideas, concepts, or topics of your research question, then find words that relate. For instance, if you want to learn about where you can buy a cup of coffee in Denton, TX, you might search in Google for “Denton coffee.”
Topic 1: Beverages
Topic 2: Location
Research scope is how widely or narrowly you investigate a topic. Returning to our quest to find coffee in Denton, how far from my location do I want to search, and am I interested in having a lot of beverage options or am I looking for a specific beverage? Expand or narrow your research scope by adjusting the keywords.
Search Scope Example
| Topic 1: Beverages |
Topic 2: Location |
Search Scope |
| Drinks |
Denton County |
Broad |
| Espresso |
Hickory Street |
Narrow |
We all do research like this every day to get directions, find merchandise, or search news stories. The searching concepts are similar in academic research.