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Library Tutorial for College Success Online

Keywords

1. WATCH: Two-minute video from Augustana Library on Key Concepts and Keywords.

Why does it matter?

2. ASK YOURSELF: What are the main ideas/concepts in your Big Question? What search terms do you think will get you the most relevant results?

Taking a few minutes to determine the main ideas in your Big Question and brainstorm some related terms.  Doing this will make your searching more effective.  

EXAMPLE: See the example below for how to determine the key concepts in your research question. Your key concepts are your first search terms. From these terms, brainstorm additional related terms to increase your ability to find relevant sources.

Example

in the question, what effect has the #metoo movement had on the film industry, the main ideas are #metoo and the film industry

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