Search Strategies

Brainstorming for keywords

The keywords identified in an assignment do not always pinpoint the specific information required. Keywords used in assignments may not be the ones used by writers. Word variations must be considered, to find alternative keywords.

The three keywords from the assignment can be brainstormed as:

online	communication	social
cyberspace “world wide web” www internet	communicate “electronic mail” email e-lists	socialise socialize “social relationships” “social aspects”

The brainstorm includes the following:

• abbreviations e.g. email	• plurals e.g. social aspects
• acronyms e.g. www	• spelling variations e.g. socialise, socialize
• different endings of a root word e.g. communicate, communication	• synonyms e.g. internet, world wide web

This brainstorm identifies potential keywords to use. Before we can use these effectively, we need to understand how keyword searching works and explore different ways of using keywords.