Identifying key concepts and what other words or phrases describe that concept you will get more meaningful results. Here is an example of how you can break down a question into concepts and their related phrases.
|
Original Phrase |
Related words or ideas |
|---|---|
|
eyewitness testimony |
eyewitness identification/misidentification, false testimony, police lineup, eyewitness errors, lineup identification, eyewitness evidence, eyewitness memory |
|
wrongful conviction |
innocence, false imprisonment, exoneration, false arrest, wrongful incarceration, criminal justice errors |
|
how often |
statistics, data, history, frequency, extent |
When you type things into database search boxes, you are, by default, doing what is known as a keyword search. When you are looking for information on certain topics it can be helpful to do a subject search instead. However, some databases' subject headers are not as robust or descriptive, so a highly targeted keyword search might be better in some cases. Here are some key differences between the two search types of searches:
| Keyword Search | Subject Search |
|---|---|
|
|