Click to view a larger image of this useful flowchart.
From John R. Henderson, Ithaca College.
In most areas of the social sciences and humanities, books are still the key medium for disseminating information. Whether monographs, edited volumes, conference proceedings, anthologies, or other types of works, books treat subject matter in a detailed, scholarly way. The documentation found in books in the form of footnotes and bibliographies is also an excellent tool for amassing other source material for research.
Using OneSearch to Find Books
This library, along with most academic libraries, classifies books and other materials using the Library of Congress Classification system. With materials classified by subject, books on similar subjects will be found together, which makes browsing a useful way to discover new material in OneSearch or on the shelves.
Subject searching in OneSearch helps retrieve results most efficiently and with greatest precision, but it takes some practice to become acquainted with the process. Without knowing the subject heading(s) for a given topic, keyword searching can often be used to find relevant materials, and then search further by subject using the assigned headings of the items found. See the list below for some useful subject headings related to the Ottoman Empire.
Subject browsing in OneSearch gives you structured results that are easy to navigate, making it possible to get a picture of the library's holdings on a topic within just a few screens. To browse by subject, go to the advanced search screen and click the ... at the top of the screen (indicated in the screenshot above with the red arrow) for more options, where you'll see "browse." Then try browsing by one of the subjects below.
Tip: Many books and other items have multiple subject headings assigned to them. Within a record, try clicking on one of the other subject headings to do a search on that subject to find additional materials.
Some useful subject headings relating to issues of nationalism, modernization, and the countries of focus for the course (in call number order):
Use these catalogs to find books on your topic beyond the library's holdings.
