Searching a Database

This video covers how to perform a basic database search using keywords. We’ll also take a look at how to use subject headings to improve the relevancy of a search.

Let’s start with a definition for keywords. Keywords are natural language terms that describe your topic and are used to retrieve documents in a database, catalog, or index.

We’ll talk more about subject headings in a bit.

Here is an example of a basic search in the database Academic Search Premier using the keywords: ringing in the ears and noise exposure

We found 22 items and the results seem good. However, we may be able to improve our results if we repeat the search using the language that the people who index, or organize, the information in the database use.

An easy way to do that is by using what librarians refer to as Subject Headings or subject terms. These are the words or phrases used to describe what an item is about and they are very good search terms. When you perform a search using subject headings, you are searching like a librarian.

Let’s take a look at our results to a find a relevant title. That’s a smart way to find some good subject headings. This title looks good.

We can start by looking at the abstract. The database found this article because our keywords “ringing in the ears” and “noise exposure” both appear in the abstract.

Now, let’s look at the subject terms. You will find subject terms or subject headings listed with most articles indexed in a database such as this.

If we repeat our search using the subject heading “tinnitus”, which is the medical term to describe “ringing in the ears”, the relevancy of our results improves. In this case, we are also get more hits than in our original keyword search.

To review. Start searching by what you know.
• Use keywords for your initial search
• Look for relevant subject headings
• And finally, search again using subject headings to improve the relevancy of your results

And if you get stuck…. You can always ask a librarian for help.

Alverno Library,