Subject Heading Searching

• A subject search retrieves materials by looking at only the subject(s), more properly subject headings, assigned to materials. Compare this to a keyword search which retrieves materials by looking at words or phrases throughout a bibliographic record.
• The source for these subject heading is a controlled vocabulary, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and the Medical Subject Heading (MESH) list published by the National Library of Medicine.
• Effective subject heading searching requires using terms verbatim from the controlled vocabulary list (e.g. LCSH or MESH).
• Subject searching in PILOT may be done on both the Search Tab and the Guided Search Tab

Performing a Subject Heading Search

A. Direct Method (use this method when the exact subject heading is known)

1. Consult the LCSH books in your library to determine the correct vocabulary to use for your topic.
2. Highlight the "Subject Search" option in the "Search by:" menu.
3. Type your search string in the "Search For:" box. Omit all punctuation.
4. Click on the search button to initiate the search.

Examples

Topic	LSCH	Type in "Search For" box
Something about Shakespeare	Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616	shakespeare william
Cars	Automobiles	automobiles
Drug Use in Sports	Doping in sports	doping in sports
The Civil War	United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865	united states history civil war 1861 1865

B. Indirect Method - This method is most useful when the exact heading is not known but the searcher does know a general topic. It is used to determine the authorized subject heading from another bibliographic record. Once the controlled heading is identified in a bibliographic record, it can be clicked on to retrieve all such like headings in the database. To do this, a bibliographic record must be displayed and its subject headings examined. The purpose is still to find the controlled subject heading, but in this case, another search type is used to identify the controlled heading.

1. Use a free text index such as the "Keyword Boolean" or "Keyword Ranked" to retrieve potential hits.

   For example: a keyword Boolean search for mercy and killing
   

2. Review the search results for suitable matches and select the most relevant record

   For example: Euthanasia
   

3. Choose an appropriate subject heading from the record. to retrieve all bibliographic records in the database with that assigned subject heading.

For example: Euthanasia

Click on the appropriate Subject Heading in the Subject Heading Index

For example: Euthanasia

Choose the individual records you wish to display.

Search Tips

• Do not use limits in subject searches (or in author or title or journal title searches).
• Punctuation is not necessary. Omit upper case letters, commas, hyphens, dashes, apostrophes, periods, etc.
• Subject searches often fail because controlled vocabulary is not used. If your search fails, consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings to verify that your search terms are used as Subject Headings.
• Using the truncation symbol   ?   is unnecessary. Truncation is automatic when you do a subject heading, author, or title/journal title search.
• To narrow a search, use all subdivisions.
  For example use united states history revolution 1775 1783 naval operations
  not just united states
• Names are generally not found in the Library of Congress Subject Headings. When searching for material about a person, use the last name first: oconnor flannery. When searching for corporate or political entities, search the name in direct order as: ford motor company, or, delaware water gap
• When subject searching, note the hyperlinked references to additional headings which may occur in some catalogs. These often appear on the results display table in the form of references called see, see also, etc. These are known as "Search Redirects" and help to broaden, narrow or refine a search.

Subject Search (Search Tab)

1. Select "Subject Search" from the Search by: box.
2. Type in your search terms in the Search for: box.
3. Click or press the ENTER key.

Subject Search (Guided Search Tab)

1. Type a subject heading in a Search for: box.
2. Select "Subject" from the corresponding Search by: option drop-down menu.
3. Click or press the ENTER key.

• Go to Guide to PILOT, Table of Contents

Send comments and suggestions to Dick Swain, rswain@wcupa.edu

These pages last updated on 3 January 2001