Subject Searches
Consider searching the singular and plural forms of the following. To search for both "diary" and "diaries" use an asterisk in your search term: "diar*"
After identifying primary sources relevant to your research topic, use the appropriate term(s) in your subject searches.
- interviews, diaries, narratives
- sources, documents, statistics
- antiquities, correspondence, manuscripts
- maps, government publications, oral history
- treaties, newspapers, periodicals
- pictoral works, documentary films, biographical films
- addresses, datasets, speeches
You may also wish to include the following terms as subject searches to limit your results to the appropriate time period and/or geographic region. This may be useful if you encounter many results, but may not be useful if these limit your results to only a handful of items.
- 19th century
- United States OR U.S.
Keyword Searches
Another useful strategy is to do a keyword search. Subject searches match your search terms to an item's subject headings. Keyword searches match your search terms to all the text in an item record: subject headings, notes, titles, authors, etc. Consequently, keyword searches will yield more results than subject searches.
- "serial set" to search for Congressional documents
- "ill." OR "illus." to search for illustrations
Author Searches
Another strategy considers the creator of documents. Once you have gathered background information about your topic, you may have a better sense of specific agencies or groups who may have published papers or other documents. To look for government documents, know which government agencies would likely produce the documents you need.
- government agencies
- departments
- countries
- organizations
- associations
