Do a keyword search to lead you to the Library of Congress Subject Headings used for your topic. Using these headings will help you find more items on the same topic, as well as give you the vocabulary for further keyword searching.
1. Browse the list of results from your keyword search. When you find a promising title, click on it to open the full view.
2. Read the table of contents and summary, if available, as well as the subject headings, to help gauge the item's relevancy.
3. Click on any of the subject headings to find all the items in the library catalog that have that subject heading assigned.
4. Alternatively, use the subject terms you now know in a new search in combination with your keywords or with other subject terms.
5. Browse the lead term (also called the "main heading") of the subject heading to see what other subtopics that subject has by using the "Subject begins with" choice in the drop-down menu of the "Basic" search. For example, for the subject heading "Women--United States--Identity," browse "Women United States" as a "Subject begins with" search to see other subtopics (called "subheadings") of "Women--United States."
Access the Library Catalog from the Libraries' home page at http://www.rider.edu/library.
From the "Basic" search" tab, you can perform different types of searches by using the dropdown menus.
If you are peforming any type of "keyword" search, you can also apply a "limit," such as "VHS/DVD."
Browse by subject. When you know a subject heading, you can use the main heading (first term) with or without the subdivision (subtopics, place, and form of item) to see what other items have that subject. If you use only the first or main term, you can browse all the subtopics of that main concept. “Basic” search tab—select Subject begins with. Click on the subject headings you see in relevant results to find more of the same.
Example: Search the first term of the following heading: Marriage--United States--History.
Search by keywords. The “Advanced”
search tab helps you search by keyword in specific fields and to construct
more sophisticated searches.
The “Subject” search tab allows you to do a keyword search of subject headings, returning a list of headings to browse that contains your term anywhere in the string. This gives you an idea of the scope of your topic and possibilities for narrowing it down.