Tips:
Subject headings describe the content of each item in a database. Use these headings to find relevant items on the same topic. Searching by subject headings (a.k.a. descriptors) is the most precise way to search article databases or the library's catalog for books.
It is not easy to guess which subject headings are used in a given database. For example, the phone book's Yellow Pages use subject headings. If you look for "Movie Theatres" you will find nothing, as they are listed under the subject heading "Theatres - Movies."
Keyword searching is how you typically search web search engines. Think of important words or phrases and type them in to get results.
Here are some key points about each type of search:
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When you search a database and do not get the results you expect, Ask Us for advice.
Search for books using Hiram College Library catalog.
The A-Z list provides a summary description of each database in the collection.
Individual Databases:
Databases by Subject:
Search for books at academic libraries across Ohio. Print books can be delivered right to the Hiram College Library and you can request them yourself without having to complete an interlibrary loan form.
The words "AND," "OR," and "NOT" can help you make a search more precise. This is called Boolean searching, and it can seem really intimidating, but once you get the hang of them, Boolean searches can really help you!
For example, the search 'films AND psychology NOT children', will return a search with results that contain the keywords 'films' and 'pyschology' but not 'children' - important if you are only looking at adolescent psychology in films.
Learn more with this guide from the MIT libraries. It really helps explain Boolean searching, and you don’t have to be a computer scientist to understand!
What's the difference between a keyword search and a subject search? Why should I care? This video explains it all!