ARTS & Art History: Find Articles

Keywords are the terms you use when searching a database. Unlike Google, databases don't try to read or interpret your searches to figure out what you need; databases simply match your search terms, your keywords, to the information they have on their articles. 

To generate keywords, think about your search topic and write down the big idea terms. Don't think of it in terms of the question you want answered, think of it in terms of the words that would show up in your ideal article. Think of synonims to those terms and other related big picture words. Then do a search in one of our databases. Take note of what other words keep cominmg up, and add them to your list of keywords. This is a trial and error process, so give yourself some time and don't give up!