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EDU 2130 Diversity, Social Justice, and Ethics (Mallona) Spring 2019

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ADVANCED SEARCHING

Subject headings describe the content of each item in a database. Use these headings to find relevant items on the same topic.  Searching by subject headings (a.k.a. descriptors) is the most precise way to search article databases.

It is not easy to guess which subject headings are used in a given database. For example, the phone book's Yellow Pages use subject headings. If you look for "Movie Theatres" you will find nothing, as they are listed under the subject heading "Theatres - Movies."

Keyword searching is how you typically search web search engines.  Think of important words or phrases and type them in to get results.

Here are some key points about each type of search:

Keywords
 vs.
Subjects
  • natural language words describing your topic - good to start with
  • pre-defined "controlled vocabulary" words used to describe the content of each item (book, journal article) in a database
  • more flexible to search by - can combine together in many ways
  • less flexible to search by - need to know the exact controlled vocabulary term
  • database looks for keywords anywhere in the record - not necessarily connected together
  • database looks for subjects only in the subject heading or descriptor field, where the most relevant words appear
  • may yield too many or too few results
  • if too many results - also uses subheadings to focus on one aspect of the broader subject
  • may yield many irrelevant results
  • results usually very relevant to the topic

Above information was used from this guide

Using Search Limiters in MACKsearch

Search limiters are applied to your search results and appear in the left hand column.  The number of search limiters you see will vary depending on which ones you select and the content of your results.

These tools allow you limit your results:

  • Full Text: Limits results to electronic items (ebooks, articles, images, and streaming videos) that are readily available online. 
  • Available in Library Collection: Limits results to items available in all of NOBLE's catalog and full text online.
  • Peer Reviewed: Limits results to items that are peer reviewed.
  • Publication Date: Limits results to items published in the selected date range.
  • Source Types: Limits results to a particular source type such as books, journals, newspapers, etc.
  • Subject: Limits results by a particular subject heading related to your topic.
  • Publisher: Limits results to content produced by a particular publisher.
  • Publication: Limits results to a particular publication.
  • Language: Limits results to a content written in a particular language.
  • Geography: Limits results to content written about a particular geographic area.
  • Location: Limits results to content located in the Merrimack College's catalog.
  • Content Provider: Limits results to content located in a particular database.

Multimedia

For questions or feedback contact the McQuade Library
Call us: 978-837-5177 | Text us:  978-228-2275 | Email us: mcquade@merrimack.edu