Subject Searching

1. Subject Searching

2. What is subject searching? Subject searching is building a search that uses the subject headings in a database or catalog. Subject searching is different than basic keyword searching. When keyword searching, you have to invent all of the search terms. In subject searching, you can choose search terms from a set list of words and phrases – the subject headings • .

3. Subject Searching Subject headings can be described as the words a database or catalogs already “knows”. They are the specific terms used to describe the main ideas of the articles and other documents within that database. Using the Subject headingswill help you: • Find the most efficient search terms • Get ideas for new search terms to try And in most databases, the subject index will help you automatically build and run subject searches. Terms to know: You may also see subject headings called simply “headings”, or just “subjects” or even “topics” - it depends on the database. A full list of subject headings that a database or catalog uses can be called a subject index, a thesaurus or a controlled vocabulary.

4. Benefits of Subject Searching Since these are the database’s own terms, you know that the search will recognize them – you don’t have to guess what keywords will get results. Searching on a subject heading guarantees that a specific topic will be a main idea in each article and document the search returns – your search results will be better, more specific matches to your topic.

5. Subject searching methods • Look for a link in to the subject index • Browse the index for the subject heading (or headings) that best match your topic • Build a search out of those subject headings • Once you’ve found the right subject headings to use, you can also build complex searches, such as combining subject headings and keywords or using limiters on your search.

6. Subject searching methods Be aware that each database and catalog can put the links to the subject indexes in different places, have different interfaces on their subject index and (quite frequently) use different terms for subject headings. However, the general technique is the same in any academic search tool.

7. Finding the Subject Index • At the search screen, look for a link that says “Subject” or “Thesaurus” or “Headings” or “Topics”. • Here are images of subject index links in Walden databases.

8. Subject searching methods Once you are in the subject index, look for options that let you browse the list, select headings, and build searches. Let’s look at a sample subject search in one of our EBSCO databases – Business Source Complete.

9. Subject searching - example • I've clicked through to the subject index (the link reads “Subjects") which brings up this screen: We are at the beginning of an alphabetical list of subjects. We could go through the list in order - but notice that there is a browse box available.

10. Subject Searching We will enter an example topic – “executives” – in the Browse entry box. I recommend looking for a “Relevancy Ranked” or similar option when you browse for subjects. This will help sort the terms by meaning rather than just alphabetically. Here are our browse results for “executives”:

12. Subject Searching If you see a heading here that matches your topic, you can check off the box next to the heading and click the “Add” button. This will put search code in the main search box. We could click search now to automatically get all the material on that subject – in our example, all the articles that talk about executives. However, there is more that the subject index can do for us…

13. Get more ideas You can get more ideas on how to refine your topic by browsing subject headings. Note that even in the first result screen there was an entire list of topics relevant to executives. Some are more specific – like “African American Executives” and some are related ideas like “Executive succession”. We can also click on a subject heading to bring up even more subject headings to try. Here’s what comes up when we click on the “Executives” heading:

15. Subject headings Clicking on a subject heading will show you: • Broader terms that include the topic • Narrower terms to focus the topic • Related terms to take the topic in a new direction And sometimes you’ll see “Used for” or definition information to explain exactly what they mean by that subject heading. For example, under “Executive” we see that this heading is used for “Business executives”, “Company officers”, “Managers” etc. That tells us: • If we are searching for those topics in BSC, we should use “EXECUTIVES” • BSC considers those terms synonymous with “EXECUTIVE” so will will get results for corporate officers, etc. in our results.

16. Subject Searching In the databases, you can also use the advanced search features to combine multiple subject headings or subject headings and other keywords and search terms.

17. Multiple subject headings To get multiple subject headings in one search, first browse for and add your first heading to the top search box as usual - but don’t click search yet. Instead, enter another topic in the browse box and click “Browse”. Notice that your first term stayed in the top “Search” box while new subject options appeared below.

19. Multiple subject headings Now you can check off another subject heading and use the Add button to add it to your search string. Note: To make your search more specific, change the menu next to the Add button to say “and” before clicking.

21. Refining the search After you click the “Search” button and get results, you can still make adjustments to your search. Look for “refine search” options

22. Refining the search At this screen, the code for your original subject search is still there, but you now have options to combine it with other search features, including adding keywords or more search terms.

23. Refining the search Also note that in every results screen, the search engine suggests more subject headings that could further narrow your search

24. Subject Searching – try it elsewhere! Most academic databases and library catalogs offer a subject search feature. The options will look different, but the strategy is the same. If you have trouble with subject searches in other databases, try checking their help pages for specific directions to their subject search.

25. Questions? Comments? Contact the Library! Ask-A-Librarian 800-930-0914