Keywords-8

Keywords

Now that you've done a little background research on your topic you will want to identify some keywords.

For example, if you were searching for information about rent control some keywords might be:

  • Rent control
  • Affordable housing, low-income housing
  • Gentrification
  • Eviction
  • Landlord, tenants, renters

Confirmation Bias

Some psychologists describe confirmation bias as the selective collection of evidence that supports what one already believes, while ignoring or rejecting evidence that supports a different conclusion. Experiments have found repeatedly that people tend to test hypotheses in a one-sided way, by searching for evidence consistent with their current beliefs. Rather than searching through all the relevant evidence, they phrase questions to receive an answer that supports their theory.

One of the primary types of confirmation bias is the biased search for information Links to an external site.. When you type a search or a question into Google, you will want to be careful that your choice of keywords does not unintentionally reflect a bias towards preexisting beliefs or a preconceived answer. For example, a search for “is rent control unfair to landlords” is likely to get results that describe rent control as unfair to landlords. A better search might be something like “rent control landlords”

Google search for "is rent control unfair to landlords" shows top result titled "Why Rent Control is Unfair and Hurts Landlords"

Advanced Keyword Searching

Once you have identified keywords relevant to your topic, try using AND, OR, and "QUOTES" to combine your keywords while searching.

To limit your results, use the AND

Boolean search using the keywords rent control AND affordable housing

To expand your results, use the OR

Boolean search using the keywords affordable housing OR low income housing

To search for an exact phrase, use "QUOTES"

Advanced search in OneSearch using the keywords "rent control" AND housing AND cost OR affordable OR low-income

Sources

Confirmation Bias adapted from Introduction to College Research Links to an external site. by Walter D. Butler; Aloha Sargent; and Kelsey Smith CC BY 4.0 Links to an external site.

“Confirmation bias Links to an external site.” by Wikipedia Links to an external site., licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Links to an external site.