Keyword Searching
Most of us use keyword searching no matter what database you use. If you type a term into Business Source Premier, Guide Star, or Google Scholar, the search will look for your word in the subject of the article, the title of the article, the author line of the article, and in the abstract for the article. This means that typing a word into a search box is a broad search. This is why you will sometimes look at your result list and wonder how a specific article ended up in your list.
Using and finding the search terms, such as the ones on this page, will mean that you will be conducting a broad keyword search on your topic. This is a good way to begin your research.
Below you will find some suggestions on how to get started identifying your search terms by using your Research question. Truncation is an efficient way to conduct keyword searching with similar terms. It makes sure that you are getting all aspects of a term without having to search for each word individually. Finally, a sample research question is provided at the bottom for you to use to practice identifying keywords and terms that can be truncated.
A Research question is a framework for your research. You can use these elements to begin to create your search terms list for your research (Ho et al., 2016, p. 3). Let's start by identifying the elements in your Research question
What company have you selected?
Marketing - What marketing strategies do they use?
Population - Who manages this company? What is the age of the people that it is marketing to?
Geographic location - Where is the company located?
SWOT Analysis - What is the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Trends for this company?
These terms do not have to be one word, phrases also will work well in your search. These elements of your question can then be combined in different ways. Different combinations of the words and different orders of the terms in your searches will yield different results.
Once you have isolated your Research question terms, you should also brainstorm for additional terms to try - think synonyms, which you can locate using a thesaurus. (Click on the link for a free online thesaurus) Are there different terms that refer to the same or similar company or product? Spend more time finding additional words for your Company and its products.
Look at the example in the last box at the bottom of this column.
Think about using truncation as you create your list. Truncation means to shorten something by removing a part of it. In database searching you can remove part of the word and replace it with an asterisk (*). This will tell the database to search for all types of endings. For example, you may have market, marketing, and marketplace on your list. You may want to put them near each other so that you can search for the term market* in order for all of the terms to be searched at once. Grouping like terms together will help you remember to use this tool and help to speed up your research process.
Look at the example Research question below. Your Research question elements have been identified for you. Start a list of search terms and spend a few minutes brainstorming to see what other terms you can come up with. Then check your list against the list located in the Search Terms tab.
Did you have all of the terms on our list? Did you have more terms or fewer terms than are on our list?
You cannot be wrong, this just gives you an idea of how to approach finding those extra search terms.
EXAMPLE
Using "Colgate-Palmolive" as your identified company:
What management tools does Colgate-Palmolive use that have made it a successful company?
Colgate-Palmolive
Employee Training
Personnel Management
Human Resource Planning
Organizational Learning
Management
Leadership
