Keyword Basics
Key Word Basics
The first place to begin to formal research is with key words. You by writing down in common language the terms you would use to find information regarding your client.
The Step Most Often Left Out
Most databases have gone to a system of common language searching. That is, the terms that you type into the search box are the ones most likely to be top of mind when you think of the topic. The person cataloguing information for the database holdings includes those words to retrieve relevant data. In order to make the task easier, many databases have included an online thesaurus. You can type in your natural language keywords and they will make other suggestions of terms you can use. That sounds pretty good.
The down side of common language searching is that you tend to get pretty generic holdings. That is, anything vaguely related to the topic pops up. You can imagine that if you typed broad terms like “advertising” or “Exxon” you would be overwhelmed with the number of citations you would find. The question is this: are those relevant to the research questions you are asking? Moreover, whether a keyword delivers any product to you or not is dependent on the person who catalogued it. So, in one database you may type in a term and find all kinds of entries while in another you will find nothing. The really bad news is that there is no standard by which cataloguers reference works in databases.
Generic terms also produce overwhelming results. How many sources to you need? Clearly, you do not need the 12,000+ citations that will emerge if you type in some generic term like “Exxon.” Not only would you find a lot of information that has no strategic value, you wouldn’t read all that material unless the client was paying you a lot to do it. Chances are, they would not find such work valuable. So the answer is this: you need all the strategic information you can find in a reasonable amount of time. That’s pretty vague as well. “Reasonable” is a value term that depends on a host of factors such as what grade you want, how valuable the client is to your firm, and how skilled you are at research.
Research is a field where the outcome is not measured in effort but by results. Because some people work slowly, others have no research proficiency, and still others want to pad the budget, typically clients pay for the research report, not the hours devoted to its production. Clearly, you have an incentive to be fast, accurate and thorough.
The effective researcher is the one who can get in and out of the library or database with the best information in the shortest amount of time. If you are anything like me, you love a good hunt. But I get bored sorting through a lot of junk in hopes of finding some morsel of information that might be useful. The more targeted and systematic your search, the less time you spend going through marginally relevant material and the more time you spend learning the intricacies of your topic.
So how do you get to that strategic research efficiently? It begins by developing a key word list before you type in your first search terms. As I mentioned, there is no standard for search terms but the closest one we have is in most every library. It is called The U.S. Library of Congress Subject Headings Index. My students refer to it as the big red books. Unfortunately, it is not yet listed on the Internet so the only way to gain access is to walk into the library. Generally, it is found in the reference section of any major library.
Using your natural language, look up the terms you might have typed into a database. This exercise may amaze you. When you look up the term “public relations” you will find several columns of words. Along side them, you will find some letters. You can look up any unknown terms in the front of the book and it will explain in detail what you are reading. For most of us, knowing these designations is sufficient:
BT = Broader Term. If you type the keywords above into a database and get either no hits (a hit is a good citation), then you may wish to use a broader term. The keywords labeled BT are suggested Broader Terms.
NT = Narrower Term. If you use the keywords and find that you get too many hits, you may want to use a narrower term. In general, the more narrow and specific the terms you use, the more likely you are to get precise information.
RT = Related Term. A related term helps you think more broadly about the various ways you can find information. Review these terms to see if they are appropriate to your research. Remember not to go on a rabbit chase. Look for keywords that will help you find the information you seek.
SA = See Also. This description informs you of the different ways the topic may be classified.
The original term you looked up may be listed as a subdivision of another category that would lead you to specific information. For example, you may find public relations under headings related to the term “school.” That would be helpful if your topic were related to public relations in the public school system. In addition, the information might be more specific to your topic. That would help you eliminate a lot of generic information that is less to the point. Here is a modified section from the U.S. Library of Congress Subject Headings Index when you look up the term “public relations.” Some abbreviations have been removed that are not relevant to this particular discussion. Please note that this is just the initial material under the heading. The total list of terms runs some four columns on this topic alone. You will want to peruse those terms as well to see if there are direct and relevant terms you want to look up.
| U.S. Library of Congress Subject Headings Index, P. 4772 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Public relations HD59-HD59.6 (Management) HM263 (Social Psychology) |
These are the LC (Library of Congress) numbers where you would find books on appropriate topics | |
| Here are entered general works on the actions of Organizations, such as corporations, stores, governments, etc., in promoting good will between themselves and the community. Works on the process of securing public notice are entered under Publicity. | This is the general description of this category | |
| UF | Business—Public Relations Industries—Public Relations | The term “public relations” is the correct term to use if you are seeking information on these topics |
| RT | Advertising Industrial publicity Mass media and business Propaganda Public opinion Publicity |
You may also want to consider these terms, which are related but unlock different data |
| SA subdivision Public relations under Names of individual corporate bodies and under topical headings, e.g., Boy Scouts—Public Relations; United States. Army—Public relations | Another way to look up the term is listed and examples are provided | |
| NT | Advertising, Public service Business entertaining Consumer affairs departments Customer relations Police-community relations Press agents Press conferences Press releases Radio programs, Public service Television program, Public service |
These list the more narrow terms. If you get too many hits on the more general topic, you will want to use these instead. Also, you may find that the narrower term is more appropriate to your topic. |
Now that you understand how the U.S. Library of Congress Subject Headings Index is organized, you will undoubtedly question why you would want to look up EACH AND EVERY one of the common language terms you listed. The answer is really simple. Effective researchers never want to cover ground more than once if they can help it. Suppose you use your common language terms and the results are less than satisfying. Either by luck (which sometimes happens!) or because you finally turned to the subject headings index, you may later find a term that unlocks a wealth of data. Once you have found the best terms, you have to go back to databases and conduct another search. Not only is this exercise costly (particularly when you are out of college and have to pay for the use of these expensive databases), but it is a waste of time. Good researchers like to “clean” the database to get the relevant entries. Even then, sometimes later research will require them to reconsider terms that they did not pay attention to in the initial sweep of the databases, but the idea is to keep such repetition to a minimum. Remember: the idea is to get in and out of the library quickly and efficiently.
