MKTG 331 Morris

What are keywords? Keywords are the most important words in a research statement or question. They are words that create significance or meaning.

Why use keywords? Keywords are important in research because they are highly useful to facilitate a search for information. They open the doors to vast amounts of information. Keywords may also be referred to as "search terms."

How to use keywords? You can combine keywords using boolean operators. This can help add specificity to your search. A database won't be able to parse a question or statement, using boolean operators will help you find better results while searching.

KEYWORDS are the parts of a research question/topic/statement that carry the most meaning. They specify what it is exactly that you are interested in researching.

Craft your search using KEYWORDS that relate to your topic, rather than a full phrase or sentence.

• Original search: articles on marketing products to millennials
• Keywords to pull from this:
  • marketing
  • products
  • millennials

Flesh out your search by brainstorming synonyms or other topical words that relate to your research. You may find that some words in your original statement are already very similar in meaning, and could be redundant. The more synonyms you have for each keyword, the more results you will get.

• marketing
  • target, advertising, campaigns, outreach
• products
  • marketing implies the existence of a product or service, so this term is redundant
• millennials
  • youth, students, younger generations, teens

Finally, connect these keywords together using BOOLEAN OPERATORS. See the following box for more information on this...

• marketing AND millennials
• marketing AND (millennials OR youth OR students)
• (marketing OR advertis*) AND (millennials OR youth OR students OR "younger generation")
  • Using an asterisk* at the end of a truncated word (advertis*) will search all possible endings of that word (advertise, advertises, advertising, advertisements...)