Business

Finding Search Terms

Research can be challenging when the keywords that you use are not producing the type of relevant information that you need. To combat this challenge, here are a few suggestions to help produce more relevant search results. 

• Use Synonyms 

Sometimes the most logical keyword is not always the right one, depending on how the database is organized. Try finding a different way of saying the same word.  

• Look at keywords from articles in the search results list.  

  • Using the keywords 'ethics in business administration,' a list of potential matches will populate. Databases will often displace the subject terms and keywords used to describe the article. You then can try adding or replacing those terms in your next search results. 

• Find the other keywords used to index a source that is relevant to your topic. 
  • If you find an information source that is particularly relevant to your topic, look at the other keywords used to index it into the database. Click on the link in the search results list. Then scroll to find the other search terms used. Look at the graphic below to see an example.

***Keep In Mind***

Clicking on the individual keyword links with take you to articles, and other sources, that are indexed under that subject. So it may not necessarily help to click on the links themselves. Consider adding or replacing them to your search term strategy. 

Choose keywords that represent the main concept(s) of your research topic. Then, as needed:

• Use AND
  This will narrow your search since search results will include only documents that contain all of the words linked by AND.

• Use OR
  This will broaden your search since search results will include documents that contain any of the words linked by OR. Terms linked by OR should be put between parentheses.  

• Use quotation marks
  This will find documents that contain the exact phrase placed between the quotation marks.

• Use * (an asterisk)
  This will find various endings of the word fragment before the *. For example, searching for manage* will find documents containing managers, managers, management, etc. Note that you can use an asterisk in a phrase enclosed in quotation marks.

Found too many results?

• Add more keywords, using AND
  If you find that you are retrieving too many results, add more keywords to reflect additional concepts related to your topic.

Found too few results?

• Add more keywords, using OR
  If you are having trouble finding enough results, add synonyms or related terms for terms already used in your search statement. 

Adapted from University of Maryland Global Campus Business Research Guide