Related and Alternative Terms
Ohio State University Libraries Teaching & Learning and Heather VanDyne
For each main concept, it’s wise to list alternative terms, including synonyms and singular and plural forms of the words. You saw a little bit in the previous section’s last activity. Utilizing a thesaurus might be helpful for this task.
Sometimes, synonyms, plurals, and singulars aren’t enough. Also consider associations with other words and concepts. For instance, it might help when looking for information on the common cold to include the term virus—because a type of virus causes the common cold.
Be sure to check to make sure that your terms are not too broad or too narrow for what you want. Figuring out what’s too broad or too narrow takes practice and may differ with each search.
Tip: Try a Thesaurus
When figuring out search terms, consider using a thesaurus, such as thesaurus.com. You can also explore search terms in Visuwords <visuwords.com>, an online graphical dictionary, to see the connections visually in a diagram reminiscent of a neural net. Both can help you see connections between terms that one might not automatically think of
Activity: Finding New Terms
Subject Headings Instead of Keywords
All the searches we have talked about so far have been keyword searches, usually used in search engines. But sometimes it pays to use tools—such as library catalogs and journal article databases—that have subject headings that you can search. Subject headings are standardized terms that are assigned by trained experts. (Some such tools also allow for keyword searching.) See the section on Specialized Databases for more detail about searching subject headings.
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