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Part 3
Keywords

 

Keywords are the most important part of a web search, but unfortunately it is also one of the most overlooked part of the entire search process.

Search Sites build their Index of sites with keywords, and try to match search requests to sites based on keywords. Search Sites don't differentiate between fact sites, opinion sites, professional sites, or amateur sites. If a keyword matches, the Search Site will list it. So, the better the keyword the more accurate the search results.

Keywords are related to and derived from the topic being sought. Often they are obvious; other times they will require some thought to properly develop.

It is recommended you make a list of keywords before you start your web browser. Too often a person sits down and types in a couple of words into the search site and gets more many unrelated results.

To start with, check to see if the topic is too broad. You may know exactly what area you want to focus on, but until brain/computer interfaces are developed, the search engine isn't going to know unless you tell it explicitly.

For example, a search on the Civil War would be too broad. There were many aspects to the Civil War - battles, politics, social impact, economic issues; other related topics could be slavery, the Underground Railroad, Ironside Boats, Generals, or President Lincoln.

What class of information am I looking for - history? movies? literature? photographs? Historical Fiction?

I think I want to focus on Civil War Generals who fought for the Union.

Some keywords I can use are: civil war, general, union, biography.

Notice I am using lower case words. Search Sites use lower case words to match a wider range of possible keywords. Using "paris" would match keywords paris, Paris and Paris; using "Paris" would only match keyword Paris. Proper names usually get capitalized anyway in Site Indexes, but the rule of of thumb is lower case gives broader results.

Now that I have some Keywords, I can begin my search.

PRACTICE:

Use the form below (you can also use a seperate piece of paper). Pick a general topic, then develop some keywords to help in a search for the topic.

Ask yourself questions to narrow down your topic and develop keywords:

  • What are some different aspects to my topic?
  • Where are other related issues associated with my topic?
  • Is my topic about a specific event or person? If not, can I narrow it down to a specific event or person?
  • What kind of information or material am I looking for (text, biography, pictures, descriptions, movies, etc.)
  • Are there other questions you can use to narrow your topic?

List as many keywords as possible. You may end up not using all the words, but the more available to you the better prepared you will be.

When you have your list, click continue to go to a page where you can print your keywords. If you just wrote your keywords down on paper, skip the form and use the link at the bottom of this page to go onto part 4.

You may need your list for exersizes in parts 4, 5, and 6.

Topic:
Keywords:
(press return after each word)

 
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On to Part 4 -Searching with a Search Directory