Unlike Subject Headings which use a precise, controlled vocabulary, Keywords are your own search terms that best express the essence of your topic.
Advantages to using keywords:
- allows you to combine different concepts (hiroshima AND legacy)
- you can add synonyms and like terms to increase your search results (teen OR teenager OR adolescent)
- you will retrieve items that may be on topic but that were not given a relevant call number
- you can use the asterisk* symbol to include alternate endings to your root word: colonial* will retrieve all records with the word colonial, colonial, colonialism, colonialist, and so forth.
- Keywords also allow you to combine different concepts of your search. Each distinct concept goes on a separate line, connected with the default AND.
Disadvantages of using keywords:
- your results may include items that are unrelated or completely off topic: zeppelin will also retrieve records that include led zeppelin)
- you will be searching multiple fields within the catalog record, not just the Subject Headings. This means you will get all results where your keyword appears in the Publisher, Author, Language, or other field in the record