Helpful Subject Terms

Using Subject Terms to refine search results in Academic Search Premier

By Nina Collins, August 2012

What is a Controlled Vocabulary

• A way to organize knowledge in order to aid retrieval• They use predefined, authorized terms• Carefully selected words and concepts with a relational

element defined

Controlled Vocabulary

AutomobileVehicleCar

Automobile

Truck SUVCar Van

Conversion VanMinivan

Broad Terms

Narrow Terms

Finding Articles in a Database• All articles available in our online databases have been

indexed• Title• Author• Abstract• Date of publication• Subject

• Terms chosen from a Controlled Vocabulary

• Etc.

• When you type your search in the search bar and press enter, the database searches the Title, Author, and Abstract fields• Not the Subject field!

Subject Terms

• Terms from a Controlled Vocabulary that are applied to resources that have been indexed in the database• They help us locate materials about a specific subject, even if the

subject is not mentioned in the Title or Abstract fields• Every Database has Subject Terms • sometimes called Thesaurus

Academic Search (EBSCO)

• Provides Full-text articles• Covers more than 4,000 different Journals• Covers nearly all Academic Disciplines and Subjects• Offers 3 different search interfaces• Basic• Advanced• Visual

PumpkinIf we perform a Basic search for articles on “Pumpkin”, we retrieve more than 3,500 results. Narrowing them down by date or full text doesn’t help us locate articles about farming pumpkins, which is what we want. Now we will go to Subject Terms, indicated by the yellow arrow.

Browse Subject Terms

Now we will Browse the Subject Terms. Enter Your Search Term (Pumpkin) in the Subject Term Search Bar (indicated by the yellow arrow), and click Browse.

Choose Relevant Subject Term

Here we find the that the preferred subject term for farming pumpkins is “PUMPKIN growers” (indicated by the yellow arrow). We will explore this term further by clicking on it.

Choose Relevant Subject Term

Now we will check the preferred term and click Add (see yellow arrows). This will add this subject term to our search. [DE "PUMPKIN growers“] will appear in our search bar above. (See pink arrows.) When we click Search, our search will only retrieve 16 articles—each of which is about Pumpkin growers.

Advanced Search

To perform the same search in the Advanced Search interface, we type “pumpkin growers” in the search bar. We then select “SU Subject Terms” from the drop-down menu and click “Search”.

Visual Search

Here we find 31 results that were retrieved from our search

Each retrieved record may have more than one subject term assigned to it. This list represents the additional search terms assigned to the records retrieved from our search.

We have already entered “Pumpkin growers” in our search box.

The Visual Search interface automatically displays Subject Terms

Visual Search

If we click the subject box for “PUMPKIN growers”, we see the same 16 results that we retrieved in subject searches.

Visual Search

Visual Search allows you to group results by Subject OR by Publication

If we wanted to find that article we remember seeing in National Geographic that was about pumpkin farming, we can Sort Results of the second column by Publication

Summary• Subject Terms• Help point out the topics or subjects of a resource• Are efficient to use• Are easy to discover

• Discovering Subject Terms• Browse the Subject Term index• In Academic Search, click “Search Terms” in the top level menu bar • Ask a Librarian

• • Use Subject Terms in Academic Search Premier• Select Subject Term and “Add” to search• In Advanced Search, enter search words and enter as “SU Subject

Terms”• In Visual Search, Group Results *by Subject