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Brainstorming search terms : Keywords vs Subjects

how to improve your literature search by brainstorming search words

Keywords vs. Subjects

When you find a relevant article, make sure to look at the subject terms listed. Think of these as hashtags on Instagram. You can then look for articles with those subject terms to find other potentially relevant items.

 

Keyword

vs.

Subjects
Natural language words describing your topic. Good to start with.   Predefined "controlled vocabulary" words
More flexible - can combine together in many ways   Less flexible to search by. Need to know the exact controlled vocabulary term
Databases and catalog look for keywords anywhere in the record, not necessarily in the same field (for example, some works may be in the Title field, some in the Description field)   Searches only in the Subject field
May result in too many or too few results - you can add or omit search words   If too many results, you can use controlled subheadings to focus on one aspect of the broader subject
May yield many irrelevant results (like Google)   Results are usually very relevant to the topic

 

Here's an example of some subject terms from the article DROUIN, M., REINING, L., FLANAGAN, M., CARPENTER, M., & TOSCOS, T. (2018). College Students in Distress: Can Social Media Be a Source of Social Support? College Student Journal, 52(4), 494–504.

Subject Terms:

  • MENTAL depression
  • SOCIAL media
  • MENTAL health
  • COLLEGE students
  • SOCIAL networks
  • Last Updated: Jan 23, 2025 12:29 PM
  • URL: https://guides.library.stanford.edu/Brainstorming
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