Before we begin, it is helpful to think about your own views and expectations surrounding the Web search process. Do you expect to be able to enter a few keywords, and immediately find exactly what you need? What do you do when your search results are not that great?

Be picky: There are millions of sources. Why settle for one of questionable quality?

How can divorce affect a student’s GPA in high school?

How can divorce affect a student’s GPA in high school?

In the example above, the main concepts, or keywords, in the research question are: divorce, student, GPA, and high school. These are the main concepts that will be the focus of your research; if an information source includes all of these concepts, then it is very likely to be relevant and useful to you. It is your job as a researcher to determine what is relevant to your research.

Be aware that the main concepts from your research question serve as a base to launch your search for information and the keywords selected to describe your main concepts are likely to evolve during the process.

Keywords matter: To find the best sources, don't be afraid to change your keywords and try your search again.

Searching is an iterative process: We try keywords, take a look at what we found and, if the results weren’t good enough, edit our keywords and search again - often multiple times. Most of the time, the first keywords we try are not the best, even though Google may give us many results. It pays to search further for the sources that will help you the most. Be picky.

Citations and Attributions

Content adapted from Library 10 by Cabrillo College Library, licensed under CC BY 4.0

Textbox: Adapted from "Why Precision Searching?" by Teaching & Learning, Ohio State University Libraries. licensed under CC BY 4.0.