HAROLD L. DRIMMER LIBRARY

Westchester Community College, Valhalla, New York

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• VIRGIL: Choose a Module
• 1. Keywords
• 2. Book Catalog
• 3. Databases
• 4. Internet
• 5. Citing Works

VIRGIL 3.0: Online Research Tutorial

1.3 Creating Search Terms from your Research Question

What are Search Terms (Keywords) and Phrases, and why do I need them?

Choose just one of your questions as the basis for your research. Your research begins with your choice of Search Terms related to your question

• Keywords and keyword phrases are almost always nouns.
• If you find a verb or action word that you think might work in a search, use it in its noun form if possible (i.e. imprisoned becomes imprisonment).
in a computer search.

EXAMPLE:

Research Question:	Am I interested in a general history of film censorship?
Search Terms:	1. history 2. film* 3. censor*

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Similar terms and phrases

Remember: computers can only match the words you type in with what is available in the database, so it is important to have alternate keywords, representing your topic.

FOR EXAMPLE:

• You could use wither the term movie or film as similar terms, but not together in the same search statement.

NEXT: Using Truncation for a more efficient search