What are keywords?
Keywords are the important terms, concepts, or ideas that are identified as search terms. It is an important component of your work turning up in search results. Subject headings are more formal terms used by libraries in catalogs and some digital libraries. You can find authoritative versions of names and subjects at Library of Congress Subject Headings. Or create your own keywords to bring attention to the topics in your paper.
Other places to find terms:
- Educations Resources Information Center (ERIC) Thesaurus
- National Library of Medicine from the National Institutes of Health Medical Subject Headings (including psychology)
- The Getty Art History Information Program contains several valuable resources:
- The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) is a structured vocabulary of terms, descriptions, bibliographic citations, and other information relating to fine art, architecture, decorative arts, archival materials, and material culture.
- The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) is a structured vocabulary containing bibliographic information about artists and architects, including variant names, pseudonyms, and language variants.
- The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) is a structured vocabulary containing the names of places important for the study of art and architecture.