keywords

Keywords
Let's say you've got an idea for something you want to research. These activities can lead from a general idea for a topic to actual keywords that you can use to locate research about your topic.

One of the more persistent problems in doing research is coming up with keywords that lead to useful information. Here's a typical scenario from a classroom. A student is really interested in a topic; she gets emotional when she writes and talks about it. But when it comes time to do the research, she can't find relevant information. Sensing that she has to write something, she settles for a topic that she doesn't really care about, but it's a topic that has a lot of readily available research that's easy to find. She winds up writing a paper that is bland and lifeless.

So how can we avoid this trap? What are some techniques we can use to generate useful keywords?


 * Represent your ideas in other media. Locate Creative Commons images that illustrate your inquiry. Collect sounds or music that somehow speak to your inquiry. Then present these images and sounds to someone else. Then – using an audio or video recorder, or just taking notes on paper – have that person record the language you use when describing your thoughts.
 * Brainstorm a list of single words or short phrases that occur to you as you think about your topic. Don't censor yourself, write anything that comes to mind. Try to come up with 30 words and/or phrases in a minute. It's okay to use a word more than once, if it occurs in a different phrase.
 * Browse through a dictionary or thesaurus for similar words. Our public library allows us access to ThinkMap's [|Visual Thesaurus]. This is a great tool especially for 'visual' learners.