Research Process: 4. Identify Your Search Terms
I have a research project to do, now what?
This is a guide that will walk you through the research process, from selecting a topic to putting it all together.
Once you know your topic and your research question, you need to figure out how you're going to find more in-depth information.
First, pick out the key terms from your research question:
What effects on the education system does racial discrimination have?
Next, you'll want to brainstorm some related and alternate terms for these keywords to give you some variability in your search strategies. Your background research should have helped you uncover some of these.
| Effects | Education | Racial (Race) | Discrimination |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impact | Public schools | Ethnicity | Prejudice |
| Results | Charter schools | Specific examples: black, Hispanic, etc | Bias |
| Graduation rates | K-12/primary | Advantages/ disadvantages |
|
| Completion rates | Secondary school | Inequity, inequality | |
| Retention rates | School funding | Affirmative action | |
| Education gap | Socioeconomic clusters in school zoning | ||
Keyword searching is generally what you use when you are first beginning a search. Try to break down your topic or research question into the overall main ideas; these main ideas become simple keywords which you may use to search a library database.