What is a controlled vocabulary or thesaurus?
- Controlled vocabulary or thesaurus is the idea that the same, identical term is added every time an indexer encounters a particular subject.
- While authors may use different words to describe a concept (e.g., heart attack OR myocardial infarction), the indexer will always add the term "myocardial infarction."
- This promotes the organization of an index and a user's ability to find literature.
- Different indexes/databases use different vocabularies.
Why use controlled vocabulary terms when searching?
- Exercise more control over the search.
- Retrieve more relevant results.
- Save time and energy!
What is MeSH?
- Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) are consistent, controlled vocabulary terms used by the National Library of Medicine to describe concepts in the medical field.
- MeSH headings are arranged in a hierarchy/tree structure starting at the topic with the broadest categories and working its way down the list through narrower topics.
Where is MeSH used?
- MeSH terms are used in the MEDLINE database and for the MEDLINE records in the PubMed database.
- The hierarchies are automatically "exploded" in PubMed and MEDLINE
- i.e. when you select a MeSH term, that term and ALL narrower (more specific) terms are also selected at the same time.
CINAHL Subject Headings?
- CINAHL nursing database has its own hierarchical controlled vocabulary that's very similar to MeSH.
- CINAHL headings have more specific terms related to nursing concepts.
- CINAHL headings can be found in the top left corner of CINAHL, above the search fields.
- CINAHL headings search ONLY the Subject Heading selected (they aren't automatically exploded like MeSH.
- To explode CINAHL headings, manually select the EXPLODE option.
