What words should you use when you search?
Keywords, or search terms, are the words that represent the main concepts (ideas) pulled from your topic statement (thesis). These are the words you will use when you search the library research databases, book catalog, or even Internet search engines. Find synonyms (words that mean the same thing) for the keywords in your topic statement in order to increase your list of search terms. Use a thesaurus to identify synonyms. Examples of a thesaurus are Roget's Thesaurus or Thesaurus.com.
Tools that will help you expand your search terms and build your search:
