To search effectively, find the keywords (which are the main ideas) for your research topic. Why? Most search tools don’t understand natural language (i.e. sentences), so searching with keywords can help you find articles on your topic

Subject headings are similar to tags or hashtags. They describe the topic of an item in a database, but unlike tags they come from an official, standardized set of terms and are assigned by cataloguing experts.

Use subject headings to:

• Quickly determine the subject of an article or book
• Search the library catalogue or other library databases more efficiently
• Discover other items on the same subject. 

Subject Headings 

Searching with Subject Headings

1. Go to UTL LibrarySearch Advanced Search. 
2. Set up the search field by changing dropdown menu from Any Field to Subject. 
3. Enter any of the Subject Headings found below exactly as it appears in the Search Box 
   • To direct the database to search for the exact key word: Use quotation marks (e.g., "Motion Pictures", "Motion pictures -- Aesthetics") OR change the next drop down menu to is (exact) to search for that spelling.
4. If using various keywords, experiment using the dropdown search operators (AND, OR, NOT)  to build your search query. 
   • Subject heading contains "science fiction films"  AND Subject heading contains gender 
5. Press Enter or click on the Search button in bottom right corner.  

For additional search tips for subject headings, review: How can I use subject headings to improve my searching? 

The search you enter can be very simple, without using any expert techniques.

If you are a more experienced researcher, Basic Search also allows you to use search operators that broaden or narrow your results.

If you would like to learn more about using "search operators" to improve your results, visit the Using Search Operators page of this guide or book a consultation with a librarian.

If you would like additional options to help you narrow your search to the most relevant results, select Advanced Search.

Choosing your Search Terms

Enter search terms on separate lines e.g., enter title of film on the top line, director's last name below, so as to articulate your search request. Use Boolean Operators to improve your search:

Boolean Operators                                                      Boolean Modifiers 

Your initial set of results will be automatically sorted by "relevance".  LibrarySearch relevance ranking is determined by: 

• Frequency of keywords matched in the record
• Hierarchy of keywords in the record
• Proximity of keywords to one another 
• Keywords matched in author, title, subject, or date field

You may want to change this default setting to sort in other ways. Alternative sort options include Date-newest, Date-oldest, Title, or Author. Each of these options are available through the Sort By dropdown menu highlighted in the following image. 

Choosing a Filter

Choose any filter option from the left side menu to narrow your search results. 

Applying selected filters

Once you have selected one or more filters, you must click the Apply Filters button highlighted in the following image before the list will be updated with your search preferences. You may need to scroll down to the bottom of the filter section to locate the Apply Filters button. 

A citation trail is one way to describe a search that:

• Examines the bibliography, references or works cited section of a specific article to identify relevant sources published previously. This is sometimes called Backwards Searching.
• Identifies any sources that have cited or referenced a specific article since that article's publication. This is sometimes called Forwards Searching. 

Within LibrarySearch, you can follow a source's citation trail by taking the following steps. 

Step 1. Open the more detailed article record by clicking on the title.

Step 2. Select "Citations" from the menu on the left.

Step 3. Click "Citing This" to find relevant sources published previously or "Cited in This" for relevant sources published since. In the following image the number 1 indicates the location of the "Citing This" feature and the number 2 highlights the "Cited in this" feature. 

One trail leads to sources that cite the work. The other trail lists the references cited in the work.

Citation trial tools may not include all citations to or from a given work. Find out more about Citation Trails.