Think of a keyword as being a highly concentrated description of the entire story. Keywords are “the smallest unit which express [the] meaning of [the] entire document”
The Strategy of Combining Terms (boolean operation, kind of like programming!):
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…with cats AND dogs – “cats dogs” (comprehensive and all-inclusive; not very refined results)
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…with cats OR dogs – “cats, dogs” (very refined results, and more specific, but still not very specific)
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…with cats, but NOT dogs – “cats” (specific results)
Strategies:
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Word frequency: Not very recommended, but the more times a subject or word appears surrounding the topic of the document, the more likely that’s what the document is describing.
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Google it! The best way I find to acquire the right keyword is to do a search on Google, and note what pops up in the search box under your text as you type. Another great tool is WordNet4 but this may be too broad of a resource in some cases.
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Specificity is crucial: “Assign headings that are as specific as the topics they cover.”3 Referring back to the summary of this discussion, a word or small key phrase is a concentrated version of the topic of the entire story. On the other hand specificity can be harmful when a word or combination of words are very commonly used. For example, a common name like John Smith. This would require using other distinct words, that are closely related to the function or subject of an initial usage. In the case of John Smith, you could attach a job title, or any other association that is closely tied to the name, but do not stray too far.
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The Cross Reference (aka “see also”): think of other stories that come to mind that strongly relate. If a story comes to mind, use its keywords (only those that are relevant DON’T USE THEM ALL).
- Do not practice topical introversion: Even though you want to outwardly promote the specific topics of an institution, it is important to not create keywords that are only centered around an institution’s culture. In this case you don’t want to be too specific about the institution, you’d rather find more general keywords that surround that specific topic (refer to harmful specificity in #3).
Also check out my Keyword Guide for our new digital asset management system
References:
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Effective Approaches for Extraction of Keywords, International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 7, Issue 6, November 2010.