Ruth Lilly Medical Library

Keyword Searching vs. Subject Searching

• • Keyword searching is what most people are familiar with.
  • Subject searching can take more time but tends to yield better results.
  • Not all concepts have subject headings, and sometimes, you will want to use both strategies.

Keyword Searching Tips

• • Use synonyms – Keyword searching will only try to find articles with the exact word that you put in the search box. There may be other ways to describe what you want. For example, instead of searching for high blood pressure, try high blood pressure or hypertension or hbp oretc.
  • Truncate – This can be a powerful search strategy. In a lot of databases, the symbol is “*.” For example, diagnos * will bring up articles with diagnosis, diagnosing, diagnostic, diagnostics, etc.
  • Spelling – A lot of health sciences literature is published in Europe. Try using British spelling alternatives. For instance, pediatrics or paediatrics. For more British spellings, you may want to look at this site: https://www.lexico.com/grammar/british-and-spelling
  • Use fields – Many databases allow you to search in different fields. One way to limit results to more relevant items is to look for keywords in the abstract or title of an article.

Subject Searching Tips

• • Look for the option in the resource you are searching. For example, MeSH in PubMed or “Suggest Subject Terms” in CINAHL.
  • Break your search down into concepts and search each concept separately so you can take advantage of databases that map keywords to subject terms.
  • If the term does not map the first time, try a synonym. You might also try searching for your term in the title of articles and then look at the subject terms (a.k.a. headings) assigned.