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Brainstorming Keywords

Suppose your research question is this:

How did the coronavirus pandemic affect the Canadian securities market?


Running an effective search in a research database starts with selecting just the key words (or phrases) that represent the important concepts you're searching for. Any other words will clog up your search and potentially exclude useful articles from your results.

Brainstorming Synonyms

In addition to selecting keywords from your research question, you should consider synonyms and related terms before you start searching. As you search and do some introductory reading, you'll likely find additional terms to add to your "bank" of keywords. 

Drag the synonyms/related terms into the "Securities" or the "Coronavirus" boxes below.