To find subject headings for your topic:
Another way to find subject headings:
Subject headings describe the content of each item in a database. Use these headings to find relevant items on the same topic. Searching by subject headings (sometimes called descriptors) is the most precise way to search article databases.
It is not easy to guess which subject headings are used in a given database. For example, the phone book's Yellow Pages use subject headings. If you look for "Movie Theatres" you will find nothing, as they are listed under the subject heading "Theatres - Movies."
Keyword searching is how you typically search web search engines. Think of important words or phrases and type them in to get results.
Here are some key points about each type of search:
Keyword searches:
Subject searches:
This guide was adapted from the MIT Libraries Database Search Tips guide with permission under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 license