Understanding subject headings
Subject headings are a form of metadata that can be used to retrieve publications in a database. Instead of providing basic bibliographic information about a publication – such as title, author, and date published – subject headings describe the topics or subjects of a publication.
Subject headings are a type of controlled vocabulary, meaning they are not just a random collection of keywords but instead come from a standardized set of terms and phrases that are consistently used and applied.
For example, in EBSCOHost research databases, the subject heading "Psychological Child Abuse" is used to describe all database content related to the emotional, psychological, and verbal abuse of children. As per below, anyone attempting to search for research on the topic of "Child Verbal Abuse" should instead use the subject heading "Psychological Child Abuse."
As seen above, each listing for subject headings used in EBSCOHost research databases will include a scope note providing information on how the subject heading is applied, as well any broader terms, narrower terms, and related terms.
Using subject headings
Recall that subject headings are consistently used and applied. This consistency helps to reduce ambiguity when searching because only one authoritative term (the subject heading) is ever used for a given concept.
However, it's not always easy to know which subject headings will be used; terms or phrases that are intuitive and commonplace to you may not reflect the choices of subject indexing providers.
To discover which subject headings are being used in EBSCOHost research databases, click on "Subjects" in the top navigation menu and choose a database (either Sociology Source Ultimate or the Nonprofit Organization Reference Center).
From here, you can search and browse subject headings.
Click on a subject heading to see its scope notes. In addition to learning more information about subject headings from this page, you can also add subject headings to your search by selecting one or multiple headings and then clicking the Add button.
Subject headings can also be browsed and searched from within a database record for a journal article, as shown below. Simply click on any of the hyperlinked subject headings and you will be taken to a new search page where you can see all database results under that same heading.
If you are unsure which subject headings may be used to describe your research topic, look at the record of an article you have previously found on the topic to identify possible subject headings.
