Searching by subject heading will sometimes retrieve more results and
sometimes it will retrieve less results. It all depends on your topic.
If you are going to search by subject heading, you need to know the
subject heading used to describe your topic by the database. For
example, if you type in Native Americans and click on the subject search
button in the library catalog, you will not retrieve any items because
Native Americans is not a subject heading used by the database. The
correct heading is Indians of North America. The online catalog will
refer you to the correct heading used to describe your topic.
Remember, this is called a see reference.
Subject searching will help you to retrieve all relevant information
sources related to your topic. Remember, when you search by subject
heading you are only searching for your search terms within that one field
in the database record- the subject field. Even if your search
terms appear in the title, abstract, notes or full-text, the item will not
be in your search results if your search terms are not one of the subject
headings assigned to that item.
Items in a database are given subject headings by an indexer who reviews
and evaluates the information source carefully and is familiar with the
subject headings used by the database they index for. They try to
capture the essence of what an information source is all about and assign
the appropriate headings to that item.
The most effective way to use subject searching is to start with a
keyword search, locate an item that looks very relevant to your topic, look
at the subject headings assigned to that item, and click on one of those
subject headings to retrieve more items with that subject heading.
