What are Subject Headings?

Subject Headings are digital index terms that capture the essence of the topic for your source. Sources are organized in their databases and catalogues through these standardized words, so users can more easily sort and find relevant information for their needs.

Think of your research question as if you were cooking a meal: if you wanted to use a recipe that contains a specific ingredient, like mushrooms, you could find the index of a cookbook to locate all recipes that contain or mention the term “mushrooms” in it. Using standardized terms to find information will take less guesswork in targeting your topic than coming up with synonyms for “mushrooms,” or flip through every page of the cookbook to find a recipe that may fit your criteria.

The same then applies to the databases and catalogues you consult with in your research!

How to Find Subject Headings

To find Subject Headings, try looking them up in a database using their “thesaurus” (which can also be found as “descriptors” or “subject headings”). This tool will list the standardized subject headings for the database you are using. Different authors may describe work under different headings, or there may be more than one subject heading that can be applied to your query (e.g. “teaching” and “instruction”).

Different databases use different terminology for Subject Headings. In PubMed, they’re called MeSH (or Medical Subject Heading). CINAHL refers to them as Subject Headings. Academic Search Ultimate calls these words Subject Terms.

You may already be using Subject Headings to some degree if you have used Western Libraries’ catalogue, as our libraries use Library of Congress Subject Headings to organize materials in our call numbers. You can see them when you search (advanced search always!) on OMNI in the sidebar.

If you want to narrow your results down while searching, try clicking around these Subject Headings and see what you find!

See our next chapter for search terms to help build keywords for your query.