After you have selected keywords and synonyms, it is important to link them together into a search statement so the library databases will understand how to search the terms properly.
The research topic was:
What are the effects of using social media in the online classroom?
Some of the keywords and related terms already identified were:
social media (Facebook, Twitter, social networks)
online classroom (online courses, distance learning, web-based learning)
When you create a search statement, you will link these terms with Boolean operators to create a search statement the database can use to retrieve the most relevant results. Databases use different search algorithms than web search engines. Understanding how to search them will save you valuable time in the long run.