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.
|
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 |
Select useful titles and look at the full record for subject headings to search.
Subject Headings
Searching by subject will usually generate the most accurate and beneficial results. Books on costume can be found by using subject headings such as:
Clothing and dress
Costume
Costume design
Fashion
Fashion designers
Note: Costume is an older term in use therefore more entries for historical titles will appear under this heading than for Clothing and dress. A comprehensive search should make use of both subject headings.
These subject headings can be subdivided geographically, topically, chronologically, and by genre.
Clothing and dress—Africa—History—19th century
Clothing and Dress—United States
Costume Europe Religious aspects
Costume France
Costume France History 18th century
Fashion History
Fashion United States
Browsing the library shelves is another strategy for locating information on a topic. Books on costume and fashion can be found:
Costume and fashion cover a wide range of topics. Here are some selected narrower terms that maybe helpful.
Aprons
Belts (Clothing)
Children’s clothing
Coats
Collars
Dress Accessories
Footwear
Fur garments
Jackets
Jewelry
Men’s clothing
Millinery
Nationalism and clothing
Riding habit
Shoes
Sleepwear
Sports clothes
Suits (Clothing)
Sweaters
Uniforms
Women’s clothing
Work clothes
More information about Subject Headings for Clothing.