1. Topic: Homosexuality, got 912 results. (I changed my topic from my old topic which was about religion)
a. Amherst
b. Homosexuality : debating the issues
c. no edition given
d. N.Y.
e. Prometheus Books
f. 1995
2. Location: Book Stacks; Call number: HQ76.3.U5 H673 1995; Status: on self.
3. Subject headings: Homosexuality -- United States, Homosexuality – Moral and ethical aspects, Homosexuality – Religious aspects, Gays in the military – United States, Gay rights – United States.
4. Homosexuality - Moral and ethical aspects; 120 items showed uo in the index.
5. I got 10 resluts
a. I have fewer entries with my subject heading search than my keyword search.
b. The resultsare more on target than the ones with the keyword search.
c. The subject heading search is more of a specfic search than the keyword search, so it yeilded less entries and since it is more specfic than the keyword search, the subject heading search gives entries that are more related than the brood entries of the keyword search.
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Yes, I think you see the advantages of the subject headings here. Your broader keyword search led to various options for a subject heading choice, which is what it should do.
ReplyDeleteThe reason subject headings are so effective is that a) they are pre-set headings, so the choice of heading is always structured the same way, enabling like materials to be retrieved and b) human beings make the choices of heading or headings after reading the book, so there is intellectual input to the choices. This is superior to a keyword search, which is just a match-up of a string of characters to the same string of characters somewhere in a record.