Keywords are the terms in your research question that are likely to appear in publications about your topic. So it is important that you have thought about and identified what they may be before you start searching for resources online.
Remember not to give up too easily and try using alternative keywords in your searches.
Activity instructions
Have a look at the photograph of Falmouth below. (Photo by Nigel Brown)
Identify some keywords and type them in the box below.
Click on the plus signs to find out some of our suggestions!
We hope you came up with some similar keywords although everyone will respond differently.
Remember some terms may have multiple meanings and need clarification when entering into a search tool by combining with another term, so waves could be brain waves or radio waves or ocean waves.
Be mindful too that some more descriptive words like blue for example wouldn't necessarily bring you great results when searching, unless you were focusing on that aspect i.e. you were researching something related to colour for example.
More specific terms (e.g. Cornwall, Falmouth) can help focus your search.
Find out more
For more tips about keywords watch the Identifying Keywords video.
Remember you can always use an online thesaurus to help you think of alternative keywords too. Just Google 'online thesaurus' to find one.
You may want to do some initial web searches about a topic or theme to help you get a grasp of terminology and important words, people, ideas and time periods connected to your topic before you start searching the library resources and beyond.