I-Search home page -- Milner Library, Illinois State University

Identifying Key Concepts & Brainstorming Keywords

From your list of research questions identify the key concepts. Then, brainstorm for alternative words and synonyms (keywords) for those key concepts. These are generally nouns. For example, let's use the following research question from the previous list.

Do gender roles affect Hispanic participation in higher education?

Key Concepts	Keywords - Alternative Words/Synonyms
gender	male, female, man, woman, feminis(m,t), machismo, masculin(e,ity), sex(uality)
Hispanic	Latino, Latina, specific countries, (e.g. Cuban-Americans, Chicanos)
higher education	colleg(e,es,iate,ian), universit(y,ies), postsecondary, post-secondary, post secondary, levels of higher education (e.g. community colleges)

Note that we've included variations of keywords such as plurals. Include any alternate spellings of words or abbreviations, too.

Your list of keywords will be what you use to search in library resources and the Internet for information to answer your research questions.

Practice creating keywords

For portions of the tutorial you'll need Adobe Flash player; download the Flash player if you don't already have it. If you have any problems, ask at the University Computer Help Desk 309-438-HELP (4357) or one of the Milner Library librarians.

Original I-Search ©2005 by Illinois State University's Milner Library. I-Search is based upon Searchpath
© by the Board of Trustees of Western Michigan University which incorporates material from TILT, a tutorial developed by the Digital Information Literacy Office for the University of Texas System Digital Library, ©1998-2004. This material may be reproduced, distributed, or incorporated only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Searchpath Open Publication License.