English 102
Brainstorming and Finding Keywords

Developing a list of possible search terms or keywords is vital to getting good search results!
1. To start your list of potential keywords, break your topic down into its main ideas.
  • For example, the event I'm interested in researching is:
    Conspiracy theories about the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.

Main ideas:
conspiracy theories, World Trade Center, attacks
2. Now think of other words that can be used to describe the main ideas of your topic/question.

Idea One = conspiracy theories
conspiracy, public knowledge, conceal, collusion, plot, scheme...

Idea Two = World Trade Center
twin towers, New York city, Manhattan, WTC, 9/11, September 11...

Idea Three = attacks
terrorism, suicide attacks, hijack, al-Qaeda, jihad, hate crimes
3. Now try to build some searches using the keywords you brainstormed:

conspiracy AND "world trade center" AND attack

conceal AND (WTC OR "world trade center") AND attack

conspiracy AND "twin towers" AND terrorism

"public knowledge" AND (9/11 OR September 11)
4. Take your searches to the UW Libraries catalog, database or the Internet to see what you find!
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Even if you think you've searched under every possible combination, you still might want to check these books to make sure you haven't overlooked something.

All three are available in the "Topics" section of the Reference Collection in the Information Commons:

Successful Keyword Searching: Initiating Research on Popular Topics Using Electronic Databases
ZA4460 .M33 2001
The Contemporary Thesaurus of Search Terms and Synonyms: a Guide for Natural Language Computer Searching
ZA4060 .K58 2000
The Contemporary Thesaurus of Social Science Terms and Synonyms
Z699.5 .S65 K57 1993


You may also want to consult a traditional thesaurus for synonyms of your keywords:

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus
PE1591 .R715 1988
Writing/Research Collection, 1st floor

Getting help from a Librarian
If you have any questions at any stage of your research, please do not hesitate to contact us for assistance.