Which term denotes important words or phrases describing a topic used to locate materials in catalogs or databases?

Which term denotes important words or phrases describing a topic used to locate materials in catalogs or databases?

• A. Keywords
• B. Search terms
• C. Fiction
• D. Citation

Answer: (A)

Keywords are the important words or phrases that describe a topic and are used to locate materials in catalogs or databases. They act as the main descriptors that tag resources or define the focus of your search, helping you pull up relevant items when you query the catalog or database. For example, if your topic is climate change and agriculture, you’d use keywords such as climate change, agriculture, crop yields, and drought. Using these keywords you can combine terms to narrow or broaden results. The other options don’t fit because fiction isn’t related to locating resources, and a citation is a reference to a work rather than the search terms used to find it. Search terms can be what you type, but the concept described here—the words that describe the topic and guide retrieval—is best called keywords.

Keywords are the important words or phrases that describe a topic and are used to locate materials in catalogs or databases. They act as the main descriptors that tag resources or define the focus of your search, helping you pull up relevant items when you query the catalog or database. For example, if your topic is climate change and agriculture, you’d use keywords such as climate change, agriculture, crop yields, and drought. Using these keywords you can combine terms to narrow or broaden results. The other options don’t fit because fiction isn’t related to locating resources, and a citation is a reference to a work rather than the search terms used to find it. Search terms can be what you type, but the concept described here—the words that describe the topic and guide retrieval—is best called keywords.