Descriptor

DEFINITION 1: A word or phrase used as a label to describe or classify; a term used to identify or locate a file or specific data.
SOURCE: Webster’s New World College Dictionary. Wiley Publ. Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, 2010
HYPERLINK: Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/dictionary-definitions/

DEFINITION 2:  A word, phrase, or alphanumeric character used to identify an item in an information storage and retrieval system (In Computer Science).

SOURCE: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English language, 4th ed., 2010. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publ. Company, USA
HYPERLINK:The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved
http://www.yourdictionary.com/dictionary-definitions/

COMMENT: It is important to stress the difference between key words and descriptors. The first does not obey any structure; it is random and removed from free language texts. For a key word to become a descriptor, it must pass through a rigid control of synonyms, meaning and importance in the structural hierarchy of a determined subject.

SOURCE: Brandau, Ricardo; Monteiro, Rosangela  and  Braille, Domingo M.,  Importance of the correct use of descriptors in scientific articles. Rev Bras Cir Cardiovasc [online]. 2005, vol.20, 1, pp.VII-IX.ISSN0102-7638.
HYPERLINK: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbccv/v20n1/en_v20n1a04.pdf

RELATED TERMS: criteria