Keywords and Subject Headings
When searching for information in databases, catalogs, or search engines, it's important to understand the distinction between keywords and subject headings, as both can influence the effectiveness of your search results.
Keywords
- Definition: Keywords are natural language terms or phrases that describe the main concepts of your research topic.
- How They Work: Keywords search for words anywhere in the text, including the title, abstract, and full content. They are flexible and allow you to use any term or phrase you think is relevant.
- When to Use: Keywords are especially useful when starting research on a new or emerging topic, when you’re unsure of specific subject terms, or when searching across multiple platforms like Google or multidisciplinary databases.
- Pros: Keywords provide a broad search, making them helpful for finding a wide range of articles and resources.
- Cons: Keywords can lead to irrelevant results, as they do not account for synonyms, variant terms, or the exact context of the search term.
Subject Headings
- Definition: Subject headings are controlled vocabulary terms assigned by databases and cataloguers to categorize and index content based on standardized topics.
- How They Work: Subject headings are pre-determined terms that classify content based on its primary subject, helping to ensure that all relevant items on a topic are grouped together, regardless of the specific keywords used in the content.
- When to Use: Subject headings are useful when you need precise and focused results, especially in specialized databases like PubMed (which uses MeSH) or library catalogs.
- Pros: Subject headings reduce irrelevant results and can reveal related terms or broader/narrower topics that you may not have considered.
- Cons: You need to be familiar with the database’s specific subject headings or thesaurus to use them effectively, and they may not always cover very new or niche topics.
Conclusion: Using both keywords and subject headings strategically in combination can enhance your search effectiveness. Start with keywords to explore a topic broadly, then refine your search using subject headings to zero in on the most relevant results.
