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Writing 100 (Fall 2024, Xu)

Keywords to Subjects in Databases

Recommendations:

  • Start with keywords in your database search.
  • Leverage subject terms IF they are available in the databases.

Notes:

  • Subject terms can be more effective (targeted); yet, more limiting at the same time!
  • Subject terms may not be applied to all formats or records depending on the database.
  • Some search tools have GREAT subjects, some don't have any!

Record from UC Library Search

Marr, Bernard, and Matt Ward. Artificial Intelligence in practice : How 50 successful companies used artificial Intelligence to solve problems. 1st edition. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley, 2019.

How to find subject headings

The controlled vocabulary of a database is the official subject headings for the database. Controlled vocabulary will vary depending on the discipline. Even when the word is the same in multiple disciplines, context will vary. For example, "stress" means one thing to a psychologist (anxiety, depression) and something else entirely to an engineer (metal fatigue, weight load). The controlled vocabulary of the database will vary depending on the subjects the database covers.

And how do you find the controlled vocabulary?

  1. Look for a thesaurus (or a glossary, or a list of subject terms)

  1. Look at the metadata in the database records

Subject Searching in UC Library Search

Open a new tab in your browser and go to the Library's main page: https://library.ucmerced.edu . We'll discuss using UC Library Search to best advantage.

SEARCHING EXERCISE SPREADSHEET:

Google Spreadsheet

Try to find at least three subject headings OTHER THAN "artificial intelligence" or "AI." Be aware of what give you the best results, subject searching or keywords. This can depend on your topic.