Keyword-oriented searching is like looking through the white pages of a phone book or a dictionary.
Using keyword tools, you can search information for a specific word or name. This word could be a topic or term (e.g., photosynthesis) or a proper name (person, machine, or geographic division). Based on your key word(s), the search tool finds matching items in a database.
Start with a keyword search if you don't have a specific author or title to look up.
Look at the subject headings listed -- Click on those subject headings to find MORE items related to your topic. Once you have found a book or article on your topic, check its bibliography and references for additional research sources -- Then, check the Library's catalog BY AUTHOR OR TITLE to see if we have those items! When getting your books from the stacks, browse nearby items for other, related materials -- Library books have call numbers assigned to them based on their subject matter. For example, most novels written by American writers will have a call number that begins with "PS." Books about Abraham Lincoln generally have a call number beginning "E457." Look around!
When searching the Library Catalog - be sure you do NOT use A, An or The if they are the first word of the title. Search for "Great Gatsby", not "The Great Gatsby".
Be sure you have the first significant word of the title correct. In a catalog title search, the more you put in, the more options you are giving the computer to say it has no matches. Sometimes less is more.
When using a subject search in the Catalog, begin broadly then narrow your search. Searching "England" gives you a range of options from which to narrow your search. When searching the YHC catalog, this is often the best option to avoid eliminating material which might be helpful.
Use last name first. Again, less is more. Unless you are sure that it is Stephen King, not Steven King - don't give the computer a chance to thwart you. Just search for King, or King, S and let the computer do the rest.
Last updated on
July 27, 2005 8:33 AM