MEDLINE and CINAHL are examples of controlled vocabulary databases. In MEDLINE, the controlled vocabulary is Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) which are hyperlinked terms that provide scope notes and allow related terms to be discovered. In CINAHL, the controlled vocabulary is Subject Headings, which also provide hyperlinked terms with scope notes to expand searches. Both databases clearly display the applicable controlled vocabulary terms for each article.

1. Examples of controlled vocabulary
databases: MEDLINE and CINAHL
Ana Patricia Ayala
Instruction and Faculty Liaison Librarian
Gerstein Science Information Centre

2. Examples of controlled vocabulary
• MEDLINE (along with ALL the OVID
databases, including: PsycInfo, EMBASE,
Healthstar, among others)
Medical Subject Headings – MeSH
• CINAHL
Subject Headings

3. Identifying the controlled vocabulary
In both MEDLINE and CINAHL, the controlled
vocabulary will be:
• Hyperlinked
• Have a Scope entry beside it. The scope note
gives a definition of that term, and what other
terms it is used for.
• Expandable, allowing related terms to be
discovered and considered for that search
• Listed in the details of every article

4. MEDLINE example
Hyperlinked controlled
Scope
vocabulary (MeSH)

5. MEDLINE article detail example
Hyperlinked controlled
vocabulary (MeSH)

6. CINAHL example
Hyperlinked controlled Scope
vocabulary
(Subject Headings)

7. CINAHL article detail example
Hyperlinked
controlled
vocabulary
(Subject
Headings)