IRIS 42: Information and Research Instruction Suite for two-year colleges

Going on a Word Hunt

build your word list for research success

librarian's tipLibrarian's secret: the key to good research is having a good command of the words related to your topic. The more words you have, the more successful you'll be when you search for information.

Collecting keywords

Up to now we've been using the original words we started with as search terms. We added the ending variations by using the truncation symbol. As you learn about your topic, you'll find more words, perhaps better words, that can lead to more successful searches.

keep a keyword list and add to it as you research your topic. The image shows alternatives for the four search words: 1. government: federal, ebergy policy. 2. Promote: encourage, incentives, fund, funding. 3. Technology: research, development. 4. Fossil fuel: energy, solar, wind, fuel cell, alternative fuel, biofuel, renewable energy.

Next >>