CINAHL

Subject headings are words or short phrases that are added to the records of references by 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 breast cancer will have the ‘breast neoplasms’ subject heading regardless of whether the researcher has talked about breast tumours, mammary cancer, breast neoplasms, etc.

However, not all concepts have an appropriate subject heading. Therefore, you should still search for keywords as well.

To search for subject headings make sure you have the ‘suggest subject terms’ box ticked above the search box 

This means that when you click search, CINAHL will show you the subject headings that it thinks will be most appropriate for that term. If you are not sure if a subject heading is relevant click on the image of a sticky note in the scope column for the appropriate line. You will see a pop-up that tells you its definition.