Subject headings allow you to search for resources on a particular author or topic and are often more productive than keyword searches.
Keyword searches work best if you have multiple concepts or topics. Think of the words that best describe your topic and then connect them with the boolean operators AND OR NOT.
One strategy to find books on your topic is to use a keyword search to find relevant subjects that you can click on to find more books on the same topic.
Topic: D-Day and the Battle of Normandy was an important turning point in the war
|
Search Technique |
What It Does |
|
quotation marks |
Searches for exact phrase |
|
Truncation * |
Searches for all forms of a word |
|
Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) |
Lets you broaden or narrow your search |
Subject Headings
Knowing the right subject heading can help you get to information more quickly in Omni.
For example, World War II can be described using the following terms:
You could search Omni using all those keywords. Or, you could use one subject heading to find all of the library's materials about World War II:
World war, 1939-1945
Relevant subject headings for this topic include:
Germany Heer History World War 1939
Normandy France History 20th century
Operation Overload
World war 1939-1945 Battlefields France History
World war 1939-1945 Campaigns France Normandy
World war 1939-1945 Deception
World war 1939-1945 Tank warfare
Other subject headings
Standard Subdivisions
Library of Congress Subject Headings use standard subdivisions under place names (countries, states, cities and other geographic divisions) to classify works. Here are some for history, which can be further subdivided by time period.
--history
--civilization
--economic conditions
--foreign relations
--intellectual life
--personal narratives
--politics and government
--social conditions
--social life and customs
A series of volumes on specific countries or topics. Search Omni by title for Oxford History of Modern Europe to find them all. Some are available online, others only in print.