Keyword v. Subject

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Keyword vs. Subject Searching
Keyword Searching	Subject searching
Any significant words / terms describing your topic can be considered keywords. Good search to start out with if you do not know the subject heading used for your topic.	Pre-defined "controlled vocabulary" words used to describe the content of each item (book, journal article) in a database. Search terms must come from the database's thesaurus.
Searches for keywords in any number of fields (ex: title, author, summary, subject, and/or the full text of documents).	Searches for subject words only in thesubject/descriptor field.
More flexible search. Can combine keywords in various ways (Boolean searching).	Less flexible search. Need to know the exact controlled vocabulary term.
May yield too many or too few results depending on keywords used.	Number of items retrieved potentially smaller. If too many results, may use subheadings to focus on one aspect of the broader subject (ex: InfoTrac OneFile).
May retrieve irrelevant items.	High degree of relevancy.

When would you use keyword searching?

There is no subject heading for your topic. (ex: topic / concept is very current or very jargon-oriented).
Subject headings are too broad.
You want to combine several keywords.

How do you find subject headings used for a topic in a particular database?

Start by doing a keyword search. Use words you naturally think of to describe your topic.
Select a record that is very close to or exactly on your topic.
Examine the record to find the subject headings or descriptors used.
Repeat the search using the subject headings or descriptors listed and/or other keywords.

**Remember: Searching is not a perfect science!

You may need to try several types of searches and use more than one database before you're satisfied with the information you gathered. If you need assistance in searching a database or finding information on your topic, ask a librarian for help.