Searching by Keyword or Subject
A keyword is a descriptive word used to indicate the content of a document, book, album, or other type of media.
A subject is a specific word or phrase used to find and organize books and articles by topic.
Keywords
When you do a keyword search, the catalog looks through all parts of the records for your search terms: title, description, subject headings, etc....Before you start your research, you should compile a list of keywords related to your topic. As you find materials, see if other keywords appear that might be useful.
Subjects (or subject headings)
When you do a subject search in the catalog, only the subject field of each record is searched.
In the Lyman Beecher Brooks Library catalog, the subject headings are created by the Library of Congress. They use controlled vocabulary to group items into topics. Often, their subject categories won't line up with the keyword list you have developed. For example, a subject search for "autobiography" will return different results than a search for "personal narrative." Be sure to check the subject listings in the catalog record of any material that meets your research needs.
In the sample catalog entry below, the book has several subjects listed. Clicking on the subject hyperlinks will take you other materials that are categorized in the same way.
Keywords describe the topic you are researching.
When researching historic events there may be several names for the same person, place, or thing.
For example, the person born: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson has also been known as: Michelle Obama, Mrs. Obama, and the First Lady of the United States.
When developing keywords:
- Key ideas from your research question (think nouns)
- Brainstorm synonyms
- Talk to others to help work out your ideas
- Record useful terms you found doing research. Be open to change.
- Keep track of which keywords worked and didn't work, and the sources you find.
-From Coming up with Keywords
- Generating Keywords WorksheetCreated by the University of Connecticut Librarians, this worksheet will take you through the steps of choosing the best keywords for your research.
Searching by Author
An author is the person(s) or organization that created the item.
If the item is a book, the author is the writer and/or the illustrator.
If the item is a musical work, the author is the musician, composer, lyricist, or the performers.
If the item is a movie or film, the author is the director. The author of the text script is the writer.
When should you search by author?
- to find all the books a particular author has written
- to find music written or performed by a musician
- to find a movie by a certain director
- to find a report written by an organization
Search Tip
Most catalogs type the last name first, like this:
- Cole, Johnetta
- Jackson, Michael
- King, Stephen
Searching by Title
A title is the name of a book, composition, or other artistic work.
The title of this book is Parable of the Sower
But it is also a part of the two volume Earthseed collection.
If you search the NSU Library catalog for "Parable of the Sower" two entries appear, one for the book (published in 1993) and one for the graphic novel (published in 2020).
If you search for "Earthseed" only the graphic novel is returned because the Earthseed collection was not created until after the second book was published in 1998. The graphic novel catalog entry references the Earthseed series.
When should you search by title?
- When you are sure of the title.
- When you know the first part or some words in the title.
- If you do not know the full title of the book, and the words you know are not from the beginning of the title, search for the book with a keyword search.
When searching for music, use the title of the album or the musical score. If you are unsure of either, an author search may give better search results.
The Oxford Music Online database offers the Grove Opera Indexes. Described by the original creator as - "For the reader who wants to look up the Verdi opera whose name she or he can’t quite remember, there is an index by composer. For the reader who wants to look up the opera with Violetta in it, there is an index of character names; and for one who wants to look up the opera with a song called Ah fors’ è lui’ or a cabaletta? . . . there is an index of aria titles."
Search Tip
If the title starts with - a, an, the (or the equivalent in another language) drop that word from your search.
For example:
- to find The Violin Conspiracy, you would search for "Violin Conspiracy"
- to find La Casa de Los Espíritus, you would search for "Casa de Los Espíritus"