Abstract:
The current study attempts to explore the characteristics of author-assigned keywords in research articles as important constituents of targeted search in academic communities. To this end, the keywords of 200 research papers in the field of applied linguistics, in terms of domain, degree of specificity, and relation to the titles, were analyzed. To supplement the findings, the keyword choice strategy of a number of researchers with publishing experience in the field was also investigated. The analysis revealed a considerable rate of title-keywords match, especially with respect to field-specific keywords. This finding points to the importance of users’ field-specific background knowledge in locating relevant information on the web. The examination of authors’ viewpoints and strategies, on the other hand, helped to bring to light the complex and non-clichéd nature of keyword selection. The significance of authors’ diverging and converging attitudes and their implications for enhancing the success rate of keyword search are discussed.
Machine summary:
Esmat Babaii a Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran Yoones Taase MA graduate of TEFL, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran Received 5 June 2013; revised 4 July 2013; accepted 25 August 2013 Abstract The current study attempts to explore the characteristics of author-assigned keywords in research articles as important constituents of targeted search in academic communities.
, zip code 15719-14911, Tehran, Iran Keywords: Indexing; Keyword selection; Author-assigned keywords; Scientific internet search; Research article title; Bibliographic metadata Introduction Being a successful student or an academic in the digital age would require information-seeking skills that could match the massive amount of scientific information provided by Web technology.
In fact, research into the nature of on-line information seeking strategies suggests that users are not generally good at following the models used in existing search engines (see Muramatsu & Pratt, 2001; Teevan et al.
To make a contribution to this under-researched but flourishing area of scientific information management, the present study attempts to explore: (a) the nature of author-assigned keywords in research articles in terms of domain- specificity and relation to the titles, and (b) the researchers-authors’ viewpoints and strategies in keyword selection.
To most of them, there is a natural link between the two while to a visible minority title selection is considered an opportunity to catch the reader’s attention, what Bhatia (2007) calls communicating ‘private intention’ within the context of organizational culture which assumes that the sole purpose of the title is to inform about the content of its corresponding academic article (see Bachir & Buxton, 1991 and Davis, 1997); (IV) Most authors prefer a balance between generality and specificity in their selection of keywords to attract a broad audience but not at the expense of specialist readers.