Subject Headings Definition

Subject Headings are terms that describe an article’s main topics or ideas. The subject headings reflect the common language and terminology used in a particular field of study and are the most precise way to search article databases, because they are standardized terms, or tags, assigned by the database to describe the content of articles. 

For example, in business and management, there are many terms used for personnel management, including: human resources, HR, human resources management and staff management, but the standardized subject heading is Personnel Management. To most effectively search for articles on this topic, you would want to use this phrase as your subject search. If you are using an EBSCOhost database, in the drop-down menu that reads, "Select a Field (optional)," select SU Subject Terms. Your results will include only articles that have been tagged with that particular Subject Heading as a main topic.

MeSH terms

When searching medical articles, the official subject term phrasing is called a MeSH term, which stands for Medical Subject Headings. Using the official terminology when searching by subject can help make your searches more precise. You can learn about MeSH here: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html

Tip

When you find an article you like, look at the Subjects section located under the Abstract of the article. The article will list the of subject headings associated with that particular article. The list of subject heading terms will help you think of keywords and phrases to narrow your search. You can even click on the linked subject tags in the item's record to find other articles with the same subject tags.