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Research writing

Keywords

The terms listed with a paper to make it findable, chosen to match how other researchers would search for it.

Keywords are a discovery mechanism, not a summary. The useful ones are the terms someone would type who does not already know your paper exists — including synonyms, the standard vocabulary of your field, and the method names you used.

Many databases prefer a controlled vocabulary, such as MeSH in biomedicine. Where one exists, using its terms alongside your own natural-language ones roughly doubles the ways a reader can arrive.

See also

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