Blame the Library of Congress. The problem is that you and they have a different sense of how things should be organized and labeled.
For example, if you are looking for material for a paper on the Civil War, you would probably type in "Civil War" in a "Subject" search and get this as a result:
According to this list, the library doesn't have anything about the United States Civil War. Does that seem very likely to you?
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Searches on "United States Civil War" or "U.S. Civil War" fare no better. The See Also button is the solution. Click it on the image above.
If your search doesn't make the correct subject heading obvious through a See Also reference, try an Any Word Anywhere search.
You will get many things you don't want, but some that you do. Find a good result and select it:
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Then use the "Subjects" headings to run subject searches. This item reveals that beyond the main heading, United States — History — Civil War, 1861-1865, users could also look for headings on the Confederate States of America. Remember, subject headings are links that will run new searches.
The Library of Congress Subject Headings guides can help you identify the appropriate subject headings for certain topics, but the above technique will enable you to discover much of the same information yourself. You can apply the same skill to any database to see how the database builders have classified a particular concept or topic.
And REMEMBER, if you have trouble with this, or any other stage in the research process, you can ask for Help! Ask your teacher! Ask Librarians! If you need to, just hit the PANIC button! |
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For information about this, or any other
Library Web Page, contact the
Library.
©Ruth B. Lindemann, 2003 Danville Area
Community College
1/21/03
Revised 11/9/06
