Some databases use a keyword list, which is a list of terms and definitions from a specific field that you can search through. Other names you may encounter for this are: Thesaurus, MeSH terms, subjects or subject terms. Using these keywords will give you better search results in databases such as PubMed and EBSCO (ERIC).
PubMed:
1. Access PubMed via the Information sources on the library website.
2. Click on the MeSH Database.
3. Enter your search term and click Search.
4. A brief explanation of the MeSH term is provided below the term. Tick the box next to the search term if you wish to use it as a search term.
5. Entry terms that you see with a MeSH term in PubMed are synonyms or related terms they refer to the same MeSH term.
EBSCO (ERIC):
1. Go to EBSCO Research Databases via the Information sources page on the library website.
2. Click on Advanced search.
3. Select Subjects.
4. Select the desired database (ERIC).
5. Type in one of your search terms and tick the box Relevancy ranked.
6. Click on Search (the magnifying glass) and a list of related search terms generated by the database will appear.
7. Select which Boolean operator you want to use and the search terms you want to add to your search string, then click on Add to search.
8. You can use the search string generated by the database to search for results.
Broader, narrower, related
Terms in the keyword list also have 'relations'. Relations are other keywords that are related to the topic and are broader (broader terms), narrower (narrower terms) or related (related terms). For example, in English: For 'Sleep', 'subconscious' is a broader term, a narrower term is 'naps' and related to sleep is 'dreams'. This allows you to find new perspectives and keywords to search for information in a more specific or broader way.