The Cochrane Handbook, 4.4.4 suggests searches should comprise a combination of subject terms selected from the controlled vocabulary or thesaurus (‘exploded' where appropriate) with a wide range of free-text terms (see Step 3) in order to identify as many relevant records as possible searches.
Many major bibliographic databases can be searched using subject headings (also known as subject terms, index terms, descriptors). Subject headings are used by databases to describe the content of each article they index using a "controlled vocabulary". These subject headings differ between the databases, hence, you need to establish the controlled vocabulary terms for each database that you search.
Examples of controlled vocabulary options for UTAS databases are:
Including subject headings is your search is useful because they provide a way of retrieving articles that may use different words to describe the same concept and because they can provide information beyond that which is simply contained in the words of the title and abstract.
NOTE! Please note that Web of Science does not provide subject headings to control a search for a topic.
TIPS!
You need to identify controlled vocabulary terms for all your concepts. This needs to be done for each database that is to be searched. You will find that the terms are different but similar for each database.
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) is the controlled vocabulary used in Medline. This Concept Table lists relevant MeSH terms using the Ovid syntax.
| Concept 1 | Concept 2 | Concept 3 | Concept 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dementia Alzheimer Huntington Kluver Lewy exp Dementia/ |
Animal-assisted therapy Animal-assisted activities Animal-assisted interventions Animal therapy Pet therapy Dog therapy Dog-assisted therapy Canine-assisted therapy Pet-facilitated therapy Aquarium Animal Assisted Therapy/ Pets/ Dogs/ Cats/ Birds/ Bonding, Human-Pet/ Animals, Domestic/ |
Music therapy Music Singing Sing Auditory stimulation Music/ Music Therapy/ Acoustic Stimulation/ Singing/ |
Aggression Neuropsychiatric Apathy inventory Cornell scale Cohen Mansfield BEHAVE-AD CERAD-BRSD Behavior Behaviour exp Aggression/ exp Personality Inventory/ Psychomotor Agitation/ |
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) is the controlled vocabulary used in Medline. This Concept Table lists relevant MeSH terms using the PubMed syntax.
| Concept 1 | Concept 2 | Concept 3 | Concept 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dementia Alzheimer Huntington Kluver Lewy Dementia [mh]* |
Animal-assisted therapy Animal-assisted activities Animal-assisted interventions Animal therapy Pet therapy Dog therapy Dog-assisted therapy Canine-assisted therapy Pet-facilitated therapy Aquarium Animal Assisted Therapy [mh:noexp] Pets [mh] Dogs [mh] Cats [mh] Birds [mh:noexp] Bonding, Human-Pet [mh] Animals, Domestic [mh:noexp] |
Music therapy Music Singing Sing Auditory stimulation Music [mh] Music Therapy [mh] Acoustic Stimulation [mh] Singing [mh] |
Aggression Neuropsychiatric Apathy inventory Cornell scale Cohen Mansfield BEHAVE-AD CERAD-BRSD Behavior Behaviour Aggression [mh] Personality inventory [mh] Psychomotor agitation [mh] |
* The MeSH term Alzheimer disease is not specifically included as it is covered by exploding the MeSH term Dementia. Alzheimer disease is a more specific term below Dementia in the MeSH tree.
When you search for relevant subject headings, select the most relevant term. Examine where in the tree/hierarchy it sits. There may also be more specific terms below your term. You need to decide whether you only want to
NOTE! The broadest relevant subject heading for your topic should always be included.
The default of whether subject headings are exploded or not varies between the databases:
| Database | Default | Syntax Explode | Syntax Not Explode |
|---|---|---|---|
| PubMed | Explode | [MeSH] or [MeSH Terms] or [mh] | [MeSH:NoExp] or [mh:noexp] |
| Ovid databases (Medline, Embase, PsycInfo) | Not explode | exp Term/ | Term/ |
| CINAHL | Not explode | (MH "Term+") | (MH "Term") |
For a subject heading that is the most specific/narrow term in a tree, it does not matter whether the term is exploded or not, as the same search is performed.
