Criminal Justice Research Guide

What Are Keywords?

Keywords are the main words or short phrases that capture the essential ideas of your research topic or question. They are what you type into search boxes in library databases or catalogs to find relevant sources.

How to Find Keywords:

1. Write Out Your Topic: Describe your topic in one or two sentences, or as a question.
2. Identify Main Concepts: Pick the most important 2–4 words or phrases from your description—these are your starting keywords.
3. Brainstorm Alternatives: Use keywords you identified during the pre-research process. Look for synonyms, related terms, or broader/narrower concepts for each keyword. 
   • For example, use the Criminal Justice database to do a Subject Guide Search for Criminal Law. You'll see a long list of keywords and concepts related to criminal law.
4. Mix and Match: Try different combinations of your keywords in the database to see what works best.

Where to Look for Keywords:

• Your Research Question or Topic Statement: Start here for the main ideas.
• Background Sources: As you do pre-research, note important terms and phrases that come up often.
• Database Subject Headings: Many library databases use official subject terms—look at these in relevant articles for more keyword ideas.
• Article Titles and Abstracts: As you find sources, scan titles and summaries for additional keywords to try.