Descriptor is a Field , which contains Thesaurus terms. Generally similar to a Subject Heading . However, in some databases descriptors are not necessarily part of a controlled vocabulary. Explode searches for all terms in a Tree merely by entering the term at the top of the hierarchy. This is usually the most effective approach, since searchers often forget many relevant terms that are available.
Fields are data elements which describe an article.
Common fields include Journal title, title of article, author, volumes, language, pages, descriptors, etc. Fields are used to construct Records . Most fields are searchable depending on the database. Field specific searches are more precise and quicker to use than Find or commands that search all fields. File is another name for a Database .