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HIST 214: Global History of Food

Finding Books

Look for resources by searching Omni to find books, journals, videos and other materials owned by the Library.  You may search by keywords, author, title or subject headings. 

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
 

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

 

sugar AND (global OR globalization) AND history 

When searching OMNI for books, use the facets located on the search results screen, to limit your search results to books & ebooks.

When you find relevant results, note the subject headings assigned. Refining your search using the same subject heading terminology may yield more precise results.

Subject Headings

Relevant subject headings for this course include:

  • Agriculture--Environmental aspects
  • Agriculture--History
  • Agriculture--Moral and ethical aspects
  • Agriculture--United States
  • Food--History
  • Food-- Religious aspects
  • Food--Social Aspects
  • Food consumption
     

To find specific commodities, search the commodity as a subject heading.

  • Blueberries
  • Coconut
  • Eggs
  • Spinach
  • Mango
  • Chicken
  • Barley
  • Buckwheat
  • Cauliflower
  • Pumpkin
Most of subject headings can be narrowed by specifying a geographic subdivision, in the form of a region, country, etc.
Chicken industry--Canada
 
Or by limiting searches by genre era:
Chicken industry--United States--History

Advanced Searching in Omni

Use the advanced search option for more precise searching. Using the drop-down options within the Advanced Search screen you can limit your search to specific fields and/or a combination of fields (Author, Title, Subject, Call number). For example:

 
 

Featured Title

 Cover of Cambridge World History of Food

The two-volume work covers the full spectrum of foods that have been hunted, gathered, cultivated, and domesticated; their nutritional make-up and uses; and their impact on cultures and demography.   

Part One
Part Two