First Year Students' Guide to UW Libraries

What is a keyword?

• A keyword is an informative word used to describe the content of a document.
• For example, keywords are words/phrases you can put into a search bar that will pull up books, articles, and other library resources with content relevant to the entered word/phrase.

In generating keywords/search terms for your keyword searches:

• Consider the time period, location and/or movement (Examples: 19th century Neo-Impressionism, classical sculpture, French language in Canada, etc.)
• Consider the name of the author/artist/creator (Examples: Henri Matisse, Banksy, etc.)
• Consider the medium (Examples: oil painting, ballet, etc.)

Please refer to library reference materials (books, online encyclopedias, etc.) for additional information, or contact a librarian at coeref@uwyo.edu for further assistance with keywords and keyword searching in the library system.

Multidisciplinary Arts & Humanities Databases:

UW Libraries generate helpful lists of all the different databases we subscribe to organized by subject. Check out our full A-Z Database listing here. Below you will find links to some of the helpful subject listings for Language, Culture, and Arts subjects.