 When searching in library databases, the terminology you use is important. Databases are not like Google, which will pull up millions of results, some of which are relevant, no matter what you search. To search effectively in library databases, you need to have a small group of specific terms or phrases to plug into the database. There are two main strategies for searching in databases, using either keywords or subject terms. Keywords are any significant words or phrases you can use to describe your topic. This is usually the default option when searching in databases. Subject terms are the specific language or terminology determined by the database to describe a topic. These are the terms databases use to sort and locate articles. And using them is kind of like using the index in the back of a book. So when should you use keywords versus subject terms? Keywords are a great place to start if you are just beginning to search and want to get familiar with your topic because they're more flexible searches. However, you'll often get many irrelevant results. Subject terms are better if you want only relevant articles specific to your topic. You'll typically get more relevant results when using subject terms. That's because it's controlled vocabulary for an entire topic including any synonyms in a single search. For example, if you're researching mental illness, the designated subject term in the database, psych-info, is actually mental disorders. While this term might seem less intuitive, it is useful because it'll pull up articles that may be tagged with mental illness or even specific instances of mental illness such as bipolar disorder or PTSD. By using the designated subject terminology, you're getting all the results in a database related to your topic, even when the language authors use varies in one search. Despite their usefulness, subject terms are not something you'll automatically know. They're formal and differ from database to database. So before you begin searching by subject term, you need to find the correct term. So let's say you found an article you like and want to find the subject term for that topic. If you're using an EBSCO database like Academic Search Premier or Psych-Info, you can find subject terms on an article's record page under Subjects. Or you can click Thesaurus at the top of the page and search in the Thesaurus to find the correct subject terms for your topic. Once you know your subject terms, you can enter them into the search bar at the top of the page, then select SU Subjects from the drop-down menu to the right of the search. If you have any questions about using subject terms or keywords, remember you can always ask a librarian.