Most of the databases have a thesaurus that yields subject terms, and 'indexes' that are lists of corporate authors, journal titles, and geographic terms. These vary between and among the databases. For example, CAB Abstracts does not include an author name index, but you may search by an author's name and add topics to the search, such as Oliver in the author field and palmer amaranth in 'all text'. PsycInfo has an author's name index, but there may be more than one form of an author's name, such as E.J. Jones or Edward J. Jones.

It is a good idea to check to see that you are using the best terms for your topic. The thesaurus also lists variations on terminology-- broader terms are larger in scope; narrower terms are more limited. "Use" means that is the preferred term to use-- UF or "used for" means that the first term is used by preference.