Glossary of Library and Information Science - S

S

• scholarly article - an article, usually in a scholarly journal, that deals with academic subject matter at an advanced level.

• search strategy - a generalized set of technique used in the process of determining what information you currently have, determining what information you need, and determining how to get it. Some possible strategies include; controlled vocabulary searches, specific entry searches, browsing, general scanning, broad to narrow searches, adjacent item browsing, subject tracings searches, keyword searches, citation searches, literature searches, cross reference searches, and chat room questions and other direct people contact searches.

• subject heading - the name of the category that a record is included under. For example, the record "natural frequency of vibration" might be found under the subject heading of "Acoustics", and acoustics, in turn, might be found under the subject heading "Physics".

• subject directory - an hierarchical grouping of related subject headings. The tree structure shows relationships between subject headings. They can be found either inside a database or separate from a data base.