English

Here are sample keywords and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):

Combining Keywords and Subject Headings:

• Use subject headings for more targeted results, especially in library databases.
• Mix keywords and subject headings to ensure a balance between precision and comprehensiveness. For example, ("Victorian novels" OR "19th-century fiction") AND "Romanticism—Great Britain").

Effective Search Strings

1. Start with Key Concepts: Break your research question into primary topics. For example, if your question is "How does Victorian literature reflect industrialization?" Identify main concepts like Victorian literature and industrialization.
2. Use Boolean Operators:
   • AND narrows your search by including results that have all terms (e.g., "Victorian literature" AND industrialization).
   • OR broadens your search by including results that have either term (e.g., "Victorian novels" OR "19th-century fiction").
   • NOT excludes terms you don’t want (e.g., "British poetry" NOT "modernism").
3. Incorporate Synonyms and Variants: Use synonyms or related terms to ensure comprehensive results. Combine these with OR (e.g., "Gothic literature" OR "horror fiction" OR "supernatural fiction").
4. Use Quotation Marks for Phrases: For multi-word terms, like "narrative technique," enclose the phrase in quotes to ensure it is searched as a single unit.
5. Leverage Subject Headings: Library databases often allow searching by subject headings. Use relevant LCSH for targeted searches (e.g., "English literature—19th century" as an official heading).
6. Refine with Filters: Once you retrieve results, refine them by date, peer review status, or subject area to ensure relevance.

By strategically combining keywords, subject headings, and Boolean operators, you can create powerful search strings that efficiently locate precise and relevant resources.