Searching: Keywords

Getting Started

Start by getting some basic information about the health issue you are researching. These sources include overviews on most health topics:  

This will help you identify risk factors, relevant social determinants, and prevention strategies.  This will also help you identify keywords to use when searching for information.

Keywords 

Keywords will help you focus your search.   

For example, if you are researching asthma, you might brainstorm possible keywords related to risk factors, populations impacted, and social determinants:

Risk Factors

  • Allergies
  • Smoke
  • Pollution

Populations

  • Hispanic, Latino, Latinx, Mexican
  • Children, older adults
  • Immigrants
  • Farm workers, farmworkers

Social Determinants

  • Race, ethnicity, racism, discrimination
  • Housing, neighborhood
  • Low-income, poverty

Using different keywords will produce different results.

Keywords search in google using the words asthma, hispanic, and low income

Keywords search in google using the words asthma, discrimination, and housing

Keywords search in google using the words asthma, farmworkers, and children

Combining Keywords: OR

You can combine different words in your search using the capital OR.

Boolean search using the words Hispanic OR Latino

Here is an example:

Keywords search in google using the words asthma, low income, and hispanic OR latino