{"id":488,"date":"2017-09-28T09:40:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T09:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ueflibraryscifor.wordpress.com\/?page_id=488"},"modified":"2026-03-24T14:58:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T12:58:56","slug":"search-terms","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/search-terms-for-queries\/search-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"Search terms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Search terms are the words you type into a search box when using a search tool. Search terms are basically just strings of characters to a search engine, and the searcher must define him\/herself all the character strings to be searched for.<br><br>A search term is any word that you use in searching information. It can be a <strong>natural language word<\/strong> or so called <strong>subject term<\/strong> found in a database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2017\/09\/sfterms.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-523\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When you search for information, these search terms or keywords are those that <strong>identify and describe<\/strong> the contents of items (articles, books etc.). In database keywords can be found e.g. from the title, abstract, author, text, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to figure out proper search terms?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>concept itself<\/strong> is the first, obvious search term, but usually it is not the only one.<br>Ways to discover corresponding search terms for the concepts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Can your term be <strong>spelt<\/strong> in different ways?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Example: dynamical system \u2013 dynamic system<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Is there common <strong>abbreviations or acronyms<\/strong>?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Example: FTIR = Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Expand your list by thinking of <strong>synonyms, related<\/strong> terms and phrases.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Example: global warming \u2013 climate change.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Think <strong>broader and narrower<\/strong> terms as well. Which word narrow down your topic? What is the broader context?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Example: remote sensing \u2013 aerial photography<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Opposite <\/strong>term can sometimes be useful\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Example: strength &#8211; weakness<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you already found some useful articles? Read the <strong>abstracts<\/strong> and browse the <strong>reference lists<\/strong>. Check also the <strong>keywords in the titles<\/strong> and the words at the <strong>subject or descriptor<\/strong> field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"793\" height=\"743\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2024\/07\/SF_record_info.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2456\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2024\/07\/SF_record_info.png 793w, https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2024\/07\/SF_record_info-300x281.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2024\/07\/SF_record_info-768x720.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 793px) 100vw, 793px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Example of article information in a database. Some alternative terms for &#8216;stand structure&#8217; and &#8216;carbon storage&#8217; can be seen from abstract, keywords and references.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Example of <strong>concepts<\/strong> and <em>alternative keywords<\/em> describing the concepts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list has-white-background-color has-background\">\n<li><strong>heat<\/strong>: <em>thermal<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>treatment<\/strong>: <em>processing, modification<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>wood<\/strong>: <em>wooden, timber, lumber<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>surface<\/strong>: <em>appearance, visual<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>quality<\/strong>: <em>properties, colour, roughness<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em><strong>chemistry<\/strong>: chemical (composition\/process)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em><strong>anatomy:<\/strong> structure<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em><strong>methods:<\/strong> testing<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Searching is an iterative process. There is not just one way to conduct a search. You may notice that the search terms you have initially chosen are not the best and you have to modify and re-run the search using different terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Subject terms (Subject headings, Index terms) are special search terms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A subject term is a <strong>standardized word or phrase<\/strong> that describes a main idea in the article or in the book.  Subject terms are saved to databases to bring out  essential information about contents of publications and thus help user to quickly find relevant results. That is why they are very useful as search terms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Standardization means that the term is concluded in a controlled vocabulary called <strong>thesaurus.<\/strong> Thesaurus is list of terms used for a certain concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Examples of thesauruses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In UEF-Primo database there are two main thesauruses used:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/finto.fi\/yso\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YSO &#8211; General Finnish ontology<\/a>, which is used for Finnish subject terms<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/id.loc.gov\/authorities\/subjects.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Library of Congress Subject headings<\/a>, which is used for English subject terms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These are both general thesauruses covering all fields of science. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is an example of a record in UEF Primo. See the specific fields for Subject terms.<\/p>\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"860.0207253886011\" data-original-width=\"1930\" data-original-height=\"1729\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/card\/1618597194401579011\" type=\"text\/html\" frameborder=\"0\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><script async src=\"\/\/cdn.thinglink.me\/jse\/responsive.js\"><\/script><br\/><a href=\"https:\/\/app.widgets.thinglink.com\/accessibility\/1618597194401579011\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click here to view the accessible version of this interactive content<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if you don&#8217;t especially use a thesaurus itself to select search terms, you can still observe the subject terms you see in databases (like the UEF Primo example above) and use them for further searching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not every disciplines\/databases have controlled vocabulary or thesaurus. Some database use the author\u2019s own keywords (the words that author used to describing the article). Especially very specific or a new subject do not have yet a Subject Term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What if you cannot find a subject term(s) for your topic? &#8211; In that case, you just have to use natural language words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch the video Subject headings vs keywords (1:55) by Wellington Medical and Health Sciences Library (the link in the picture takes to YouTube):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aDR3VjwXvEo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1012\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2022\/08\/SF_suject_video.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1334\" style=\"width:506px;height:360px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2022\/08\/SF_suject_video.png 1012w, https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2022\/08\/SF_suject_video-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2022\/08\/SF_suject_video-768x546.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1012px) 100vw, 1012px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\" style=\"background-color:#8dd2fc70\">\n<p><strong>To Do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Find out alternative search terms for concepts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keep an eye on subject terms that are used in databases<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\">Next page: <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/phrase-searching\/\">Phrase searching<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Search terms are the words you type into a search box when using a search tool. Search terms are basically just strings of characters to a search engine, and the searcher must define him\/herself all the character strings to be searched for. A search term is any word that you use in searching information. It [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"parent":4,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-488","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Search terms - Information skills and sources in science and forestry \/ \/ UEF Library<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/search-terms-for-queries\/search-terms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Search terms - Information skills and sources in science and forestry \/ \/ UEF Library\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Search terms are the words you type into a search box when using a search tool. 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