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The Magic of Indexing

The parts of each record or citation in an index or database are searchable. These parts are called fields.

When you search by a field, the computer will "look" only in that field when it flips through all the records in the database. It will try to match your search term.

For example, an
Author Search Title Search Subject Search
looks only in the author field looks only in the title field

(often leaving off the initial articles of "a," "an," "the.")		 looks only in the subject heading field


But...a Keyword Search looks for items anywhere in the record. It is the broadest of searches. (But it can also be the "sloppiest" of searches!)

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