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Researching and writing a literature review Biomedical Skills |
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2.3 Using keywords
Identifying keywords for searching
You may have identified some keywords from your initial searching or from a good article you've found. You can build on these by brainstorming to identify the main keywords in your research topic. Brainstorming helps you to make connections between your keywords and build a list of relevant terms. (See Where do I start? for more information on brainstorming).
Think about: synonyms, abbreviations, alternative spellings, phrases, truncation. Different authors may use different words when writing about the same topic.
Combining keywords - make a plan!
Use Boolean operators to combine your keywords and synonyms. Don’t panic - this just means knowing how to use AND/OR/NOT to link your keywords and synonyms so that you find relevant articles (For more information see: Combining words - the booleans).
