ENGL 197: Controversies in Ethnic Literature (Rana, Winter 2025): Search Tips: Keywords & Subject Headings

• Think of keywords as the main words that describe your topic.  These can be people, places, themes, characters, time periods.  Use keywords best describe your topic specifically; avoid using abstract words like influence, impression, concept, impact. 

   

• Brainstorm all synonyms and like terms and connect these with OR. Example:
  • ethnic identity OR cultural identity

• Use quotation marks to retrieve an exact phrase:
  • "oral tradition"

• Use the asterisk (*) symbol to bring up alternate endings to words with a common root:
  • controvers* will retrieve controvery, controversial, controversies

• Use the AND operator to combine separate concepts:
  • ethnic* AND maxine hong kingston

Keyword examples:

• identity
• trauma
• cultural memory
• native american
• multicultural
• ethnicity
• indigeneity
• ethnic representations
• cultural alienation
• cultural dislocation
• african american
• asian american
• class
• gender
• transnationalism

Academic libraries use Library of Congress Subject Headings to describe materials. Think of these as pre-defined hashtags that cannot be modified.

Subject headings can be useful for discovering books and materials quickly, so it is good practice to look at the subject headings that are assigned to the books that you are interested in.

However, relying on subject headings alone can be very limiting. For example, they cannot describe multi-disciplinary or complex topics, and it is impossible to apply a subject heading to every topic that is covered in a given source.

Subject Heading examples:

Kingston, Maxine Hong -- Criticism and interpretation

Kingston, Maxine Hong. Woman warrior

Rodriguez, Richard, 1944- -- Criticism and interpretation

African Americans in literature

Autobiography in literature

Ethnicity in literature

Mexican Americans in literature

Chinese literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism

Chinese literature -- 20th century -- Women authors
American literature -- Minority authors -- History and criticism

American literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism

Ethnic groups -- United States -- History -- 20th century

Emigration and immigration in literature