Finding articles or essays (continued)

Another way to refine your search is to use more than one field at a time -- a combined search. With the term marriage counseling in the Subject Heading field, try adding another idea in the Keyword field : violence, for example , or abuse. Then, hit Enter to implement your search. In the lower right corner of the search screen, you will see the set of records in which both of these terms are found.

This time, you retrieve a small group of highly select records on the topic of counseling help for married couples in cases of domestic violence.

Use F3 to display your results. In Full Display mode, read through these records. Note that several additional LCSH subject headings appear in these records, including domestic relations, conjugal violence, battered women, and church work with families. Try entering these terms on the initial search screen, in the Subject Headings field. They may lead you to closely related materials pertinent to your research.

For example, you may enter church work with families as a Subject Heading, and violence as a Keyword. You obtain about a dozen records having to do with violence impacting spouses and other members of a family.

This chain-like technique leads to another LCSH term, family violence. You may go back to the initial search screen, enter this term in the Subject Headings field, and so on. The limits of these terms are not exact, and they do overlap, so you will want to try several different approaches. Each step refines your search, then extends it consciously into closely related areas. At this point, you can begin to see how to use the search language of ATLA-RDB to your advantage.

If you would like to become familiar with the Library of Congress Subject Headings source books, feel free to come to the Reference Room and work with them. You will find them on a small bookshelf beside the Reference Desk.

For further help in improving a subject search, click here.

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