Before you can start searching for articles, you need to identify the main or important aspects of your topic.

It is often helpful to write out your topic in a few sentences and then identify the important words or terms. For example :

'I am interested in current research on the impact of climatic change on cereal crops'.

The important terms for this topic would be climatic change, cereal and crops.

So these are the main aspects of the topic:

1. climatic change
2. cereal
3. crops

Once you have identified the main aspects of your topic, the next step is to compile a list of synonyms or alternative terms for each aspect.  These are the keywords that will be used for database searching. By identifying alternative keywords, you are seeking to ensure that you do not miss out on relevant articles simply because you have not used the same keywords that the article uses.

A preliminary search of a relevant journal article database can be used to identify the keywords being used by that particular database. The Library's Subject Guides also list useful dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

When compiling your list of keywords, also consider the following variations:  

Acronyms / Abbreviations
eg. :  DFT, density functional theory

Alternative Spellings
eg. : aluminium, aluminum

Alternative Terms
eg. : vehicle, automotive, automobile, car

Plurals / Alternative Endings
eg. : environment, environmental

Possible keywords for our topic :

Note that for all aspects both equivalent terms and more specific terms have been included. For example, rather than leaving the search merely as climate change combined with grain crops, more specific climate conditions such as weather event, rainfall and thermal were added in order to be more specific about the focus of the research.