The University of Otago Library has re-designed its Subject Guides system. Please let us know what you think by filling out this survey.
Subject headings are words or short phrases that are added to the records of every item in the database. Subject headings use a ‘controlled language’, meaning there is only one word or phrase used to describe a specific concept. In theory, this means that every reference discussing schizophrenia, for example, will have a subject heading related to schizophrenia. Searching using subject headings will retrieve references on a topic regardless of the wording used by individual authors.
Using the Explode and/or Focus functions with your subject headings may give your search results more relevance.
If you can’t find a subject heading to match your search term(s) using the instructions below, try again using some synonyms.
If that does not work, search by keyword instead.
For your chosen heading(s), you have the option to Explode the heading(s), Focus the heading(s), or both.