Library Research Tutorial: Adapted from Canvas Course

To generate key terms, begin with your research question. Select the most important words or groups of words from the question to form your key terms. You'll also want to consider synonyms of the words from your question, related terms, and different forms of the words. For example, instead of just looking for "child," look also for "children." (HINT: You can search for these two words and more at the same time using punctuation as noted later in this module.)

Let's take a look at generating key terms based on the example research questions from earlier in this module. 

• How did Christie's time as a nurse influence her career as a detective fiction author?
  • Key terms:
    • Agatha Christie
    • Nurse
    • Detective Fiction 
    • World War I

• How was the film adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird received?
  • Key terms:
    • adaptation
    • To Kill a Mockingbird
    • reception
    • film
    • movie
    • motion picture