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Albert S. Cook Library

Searching for Evidence in the Health Professions

B: Brainstorm Search Terms

icon of letter bGenerating Search Terms (also known as Keywords)

Keywords are the words used in an article title, abstract, or other text field in a database. Keyword searching, or natural language searching, is how most people search for information and is often sufficient. One drawback of searching with keywords is that the words that you use must match the terms used by an author.

To remedy this problem, a complete keyword search strategy will include multiple spellings and synonyms that represent the concept. Keyword searching is also useful when attempting to identify literature that may not have been indexed with controlled vocabulary terms, for any variety of reasons.

Start by keeping a list in a document.

Keyword Generation Tips

  • See how publications and authors refer to your topic.
  • If looking for prevention, you will also need to look for causation.
  • Review MeSH or other database controlled vocabularies to find related terms.
  • Look at relevant articles on your topic to find potential keywords.
  • Browse a dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia.
  • Think of synonyms, acronyms, antonyms, and initialisms associated with the concepts in your topic.

Exercise 2: Brainstorm

Brainstorming

It's important to give a lot of thought to this step. If an important article uses a word that you didn't use in your search, you won't find it. Think of how the topic is talked about in its field, by its practitioners and experts.

Brainstorming Task

Open up a Word document, get a blank sheet of paper, or use the document you started in the previous exercise. Write down some thoughts on the following prompts:

  1. How else might your topic be referred to in the literature? List 1-5 additional terms for your topic's major concepts.
  2. Think about acronyms, abbreviations, and spelling variations. Are there any you can list that would describe your topic's major concepts?
  3. If you are aware of a database's controlled vocabulary, like MeSH (Medical Subject Headings in PubMed), take a look at the controlled vocabulary and see if you can identify any additional terminology.