Complementation cloning: what, why and how?
I figured it out. You're complementation cloning when you know the function of a mutant sequence but not it's sequence. For example, your organism (human) gets skin cancer from too much UV light exposure.

With complementation, two mutants can restore the wild type phenotype (well functioning UV repair).

We know E. coli has a well studied UV repair gene so you transform the cDNA library from your human into an E. coli which we know has the mutation, then grow them all under intense UV light. The  E. coli with the human mutant allele (the right cDNA fragment) will survive, so you can amplify that colony, sequence it, and then use it as a diagnostic tool in humans.

I'm wondering why that was vague. Is "complementation cloning" not a well used name for that technique? Was the question too broad or elementary? It's the first time I've used Stack and it seems I may be a little too undergrad for this crowd.