History 320: Modern Irish History

Keywords
Keywords are the words that you already use to describe what it is you are researching.  This may be your own vocabulary or it can be terms you discovered from doing some initial exploring or terms you found in a basic encyclopedia article.

Subject Headings
Subject Headings are terms that librarians apply to items in the catalog.  This is a controlled vocabulary meaning that they are published and you must use the proper syntax in order for them to work.  Their power lies in the fact that they are systematically applied so when you discover one that accurately describes your research topic, you can use it in a search and guarantee that you have found everything on that topic.

Here are some examples of Subject Headings appropriate for this class:

Ireland -- History
History -- Research -- Ireland
Ireland -- History -- 20th century -- Historiography
Ireland -- Rural conditions
Ireland -- Social conditions -- 20th century
Ireland -- Emigration and immigration -- History -- 20th century

The libraries at St. Olaf use the Library of Congress Classification:

• Books about history are located under the letter D
• Books about Great Britain are in the DA section
• Books about Ireland are in the following range: DA900 - DA995

The D section is located on the 5th floor

An example: