Search Omni to find books, journals, videos and other materials owned by the Library. You can search by keywords, author, title or subject headings.
To find a specific known item, search by title or author. To find books on a topic, either try a subject or keyword search.
Subject Headings vs Keyword Searching
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 and need only a few books.
For a comprehensive subject search, search with subject headings as well as keywords.
Searching Omni
Start with a keyword search, but expect to revise it.
Keyword Searching TIPS
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Search Technique
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What It Does
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quotation marks
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Searches for exact phrase
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Truncation *
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Searches for all forms of a word
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Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
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Lets you broaden or narrow your search
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The first step in formulating a search strategy is to take your topic and break it into discrete concepts or keywords. Identify key words and phrases and brainstorm alternate spellings, related terms, broader terms, or narrower terms.
Topic: male representation in cinema
Search for keywords "Motion Pictures" or "Cinema" or "Film" to get the broadest possible view of the material. Consider other synonyms for male.
(masculinity OR men OR male) AND (films OR "motion pictures")
Other Searches to consider:
For works by a particular person (director, actor, etc.), do an author search, e.g. hitchcock alfred
To search for a movie, search the film title as either a title or keyword search and select Resource Type: Video/Film.
To find books on a film topic, either try a subject or keyword search.
Subject Searching
Most film-related books are given the subject heading motion pictures or motion picture [noun]. Certain subject headings use film in the subject field - usually for genre terms. Some books (mostly French) have the word cinema in the subject field.
If you are looking for criticism or the technique of motion picture reviewing, use film criticism.
If you are interested in movies made in a particular country, e.g. Italian cinema, use "motion pictures" and the name of the country, e.g. motion pictures italy
If you are interested in a particular type of movie (genre), try using "films" in your search, e.g. fantasy films, silent films, western films.
If you are interested in the technical aspects of making movies and their projection onto the screen, use cinematography.
Here are additional examples of subject headings that show you the breadth of film research.
Film:
Casablanca (Motion picture)
Citizen Kane (Motion picture)
Gone with the Wind (Motion picture)
Person (director, actor, film critic, etc.) or Corporate Body:
Hitchcock, Alfred
Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Selznick David O
Criticism of the Person's Work:
Hitchcock, Alfred, 1899-1980 Criticism and interpretation
Scorsese Martin Criticism and interpretation
Genre:
Film noir
Historical films
Western films
Bibliographies on Film, National Cinema, an Individual, Film Genre or Topic:
Hitchcock Alfred 1899-1980 Bibliography
Motion pictures Canada Bibliography
Women in motion pictures Bibliography
General Topics:
Academy awards (Motion pictures)
Animation (Cinematography)
Cinematographer
Motion picture actors and actresses
Motion pictures Censorship
Motion pictures Canada
Motion pictures American
Race in motion pictures
Violence in motion pictures
