Keywords are significant words (usually nouns or noun phrases) which can be used as search terms in online catalogs or databases. They can appear in the title, subject headings, abstract, or text of records. A keyword search typically searches all or most of these fields.
- Identify your research topic:
- Impact of the Prison Rape Elimination Act on rape in prison
- Identify the major concepts in your topic:
- Prison Rape Elimination Act
- rape
- prison
- Develop keywords related to the major concepts:
- rape
- prison* (note: I use the * in order to include all words that start with prison - prison, prisons, prisoner, prisoners, etc.)
- "Prison Rape Elimination Act" (note: I put the phrase "Prison Rape Elimination Act" in quotes to ensure it is searched as a phrase.)
