After you enter your keywords in the Library catalog or database search box, you will get a list of results from your keywords. Find an item that interests you and click on the title. This will open the complete record where you can see the Subject terms.

Subject terms group together books on similar topics, even if the authors use different words to describe them.  For example, books that cover heart attacks, cardiac arrest, or myocardial infarction--all synonyms--are grouped together with Subject Myocardial Infarction. If you click on one of the Subjects in the Details tab you will be linked to all the items with the same Subject.

Subject terms also distinguish between words that have more than one meaning.  For example, the Subject Nursing refers only to health care provision; "nursing" to feed infants is under the Subjects Breastfeeding and Lactation.

Find books using the Library Catalog.  You can search using keywords, by title, or author.

What are keywords?

Keywords are the essential words you use to describe your topic.  For example, "We should start a stop-smoking campaign in high schools" -- smoking and high schools are keywords. 

Begin with your main topic, and jot down related concepts.  Mind-mapping can help. For example, if your topic is cigarette smoking, other terms might be: nicotine, addiction, vaping, etc.

If your other keyword is high schools, other terms might be: youth, teenagers, adolescents

The asterisk is a wild card.  Using a star * (smok*) searches for the root word smoke,  plus every possible extension. This includes smoker, smokers, smokes, and smoking.

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