What Library of Congress Subject Headings are appropriate for your research topic? Library of Congress Subject Headings (a controlled vocabulary) help you focus your search by using predetermined words and phrases. Once you identify the appropriate headings, you will be able to retrieve material that focuses on your research; books on similar topics are assigned the same subject headings. If you find the right heading, you should find lots of pertinent material. Using Subject Headings
Since you probably do not have your own set of LC Subject Headings, use the Online Catalog to identify them. One way to do this is to find a great book on your topic in the Online Catalog, and look at the terms in the "subject" field. One of the advantages of a web-based catalog is that you can link to other items with the same subject heading.
For example, if you do a keyword search using the term Holocaust, you will find the following title, The Last Witness: the Child Survivor of the Holocaust. Look at the terms in the subject field.
RECORD 1 out of 6
Holdings
Availability
Author
Kestenberg, Judith S.
Title
The last witness: the child survivor of the Holocaust.
Edition
1st ed.
Imprint
Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, c 1996.
Descr.
xxii, 238 p. ; 23 cm.
Call number
616.8521 K42
General CollectionSubject
Holocaust survivors -- Psychology.
Subject
Interviewing--Psychological aspects.
Subject
Holocaust survivors-- Mental health.
Subject
Persecution--Psychological aspects.
Subject
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).
Subject
Jewish children--Psychology.
Subject
National socialism--Psychological aspects.
Notice the highlighted subject heading above. If you were doing this search in the online catalog, selecting (clicking on) this heading would lead you to other materials with the same subject.The graphic image below illustrates some of the titles you retrieve by selecting the link for Holocaust srvivors - psychology.
Results for W-Subject= ( Holocaust survivors ) # Author Title Call number Year Availability 1 Fremont, Helen After long silence: 940.5318092 F872af 1999 Availability 2 Wiesel, Elie And the sea is never full: MCNAUGHTON WIESEL 1999 Availability 3 Kirchheimer, Gloria We were so beloved: 974.71004 K58 1997 Availability 4 Kestenberg, Judith S. The last witness: 616.8521 K42 1996 Availability Note that these are just brief entries indicating the authors, titles, call numbers and year of publication. To see and evaluate all the fields of the record, you would click on the number to the left of that title. You would click on Availability to see whether the book is currently on the shelf or checked out.
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