Once you have read about your topic you should have a better idea of the keywords under which you could find information about your topic. Define your keywords accurately. The following steps will assist you in defining keywords:

• Drawing a mind map

Write down everything you know about your topic as well as what you would like to know!!! Our topic, for illustrative purposes, is "Aids in the workplace".

Identify keywords, concepts and terms on this topic. This will help you to identify areas that need more searching than others. Your mind map might look something like the one provided below:

• Broader and narrower search terms

Is there a broader or narrower subject that might include your topic, question or problem? Remember our topic is "Aids in the workplace."

You must identify as many broader and narrower terms as possible. They will help you when you do your search. Using different words will retrieve different information therefore use all possible options when you search for information. After searches were done on the Library on-line catalogue on some of the words identified above, the following information was found:

It is clear that you get different results (varying number of "hits") from different words used in the searches. That is why it is so important to identify the correct key words so as to not waste time having to and follow up on every possible word related to your topic.

Remember to keep any printouts or notes of your searches, make notes of the resources found and keep information for your bibliographic records already at this early stage. See reading and making notes in step 5 to help you with this.

• Different spelling

Look for other ways of spelling of words during your reading on the topic. Certain words are spelt differently in British English vs. American English, for example: