Identifying keywords will help you narrow your topic and save time in your research.
Step One: Paraphrase your research topic in one sentence:
Example: “I want to learn about how media affects an individual's body image.”
Step Two: Consider what you already know about your topic:
Example: “I know that photoshop is used on many images and body images seen in media may not depict reality.”
Step Three: Think about what you would like to learn about your topic:
Example: "I want to know how these altered images affect college students' self-esteem."
Keywords from our example topic:
From Step One:
Example: “I want to learn about how media affects an individual's body image.”
From Step Two:
Example: “I know that photoshop is used on many images and body images seen in media may not be real.”
From Step Three:
Example: "I want to know how these altered images affect college students' self-esteem."
Make a list of the keywords you identified while focusing your topic and find synonyms for your search terms.
For Example:
MAIN IDEA: body image
MAIN IDEA: self-esteem
MAIN IDEA: media
MAIN IDEA: altered images
Don't know any synonyms for your keywords? Try: