The "Subject" search uses a "controlled vocabulary" and focuses on subject terms or subject headings to define or to describe the information within the system. This type of search is targeted using specific terms or phrases that are highly relevant to the topic. It will locate all records on this subject and does not consider other fields, like the title or note fields as part of the search. This ensures the results are related and focused on the subject searched or the desired topic, which saves the user time.
Examples: Many of the book items are located in Special Collections or the Main Collection.
Indian women North America Biography
Indian women biography North America
Indian women
American literature women authors
Cherokee women
Cherokee women history sources
Cherokee women historiography
Cherokee women social conditions
Cherokee women Government relations
Cherokee National Female Seminary
Cherokee women Oklahoma Tahlequah Students
Cherokee women education Oklahoma Tahlequah
​Cherokee Indians literary collections
For additional information and to locate the Library of Congress subject authority headings and more, see the Library of Congress Authorities link below.
Many systems, like databases, library catalogs online, and Google, default to the "Keyword" search, which uses "natural language" or words. This term or set of terms can appear anywhere or any field in a record, such as title, author, subject, note, etc. The meaning of the words are not considered. For example, the terms "heavy metal" could pull results related to music or related to soil content. Here are some basic tips on how to use the Keyword search.
Tip: Combine or group terms by enclosing them within quotation marks.
Tip: Use the Keyword search to combine an author and keywords in a title of his or her work. For example, for information about the book, Messengers of the Wind: Native American Women Tell Their Life Stories, by Jane B. Katz, or the title, Sifters: Native American Women's Lives, by Theda Perdue, combine the author's last name and a keyword of the title of the work. Note: The names are not case sensitive. Additionally, the search may pull other non-related titles if the terms entered appear in the item record.
Ex: katz and messengers
Ex: perdue and sifters
Grouping: Keyword search results are usually grouped by relevance to bring the most likely titles to the top of the list. Each group represents a similar level of relevance and results are sorted within the group by date or title. To get an ungrouped result set, use boolean operators to form a complex query.
Ex: indian women social life and customs
Ex: native american women and biographies
For additional book titles not owned by NSU Libraries search the WorldCat databases. The WorldCat databases will locate items (books, dvds, and articles) from other libraries as well as items owned by the NSU Libraries.