| Keyword Searching | Subject Heading Searching |
| Good for obscure or contemporary topics | Good for general and universal topics |
| Use common or informal language | Use formal, academic, or discipline-specific language |
| Can generate many irrelevant results | Lists highly relevant results for each topic |
| Can use any term to describe topic to find relevant information | Need to know specific subject heading or vocabulary to search in subject heading list |
| Will search for keyword in any field | Will only search in subject heading or descriptor field |
