Search tip: Search for books by either Keywords or Subject Headings. Start with a Keyword search and identify some relevant books. Then look at the subject headings for those books. You can follow the subject heading links in the catalog to find similar books, or you can use the terms in the subject headings to identify other keywords to try.
Example Subject Headings:
African Americans -- Politics and government
Race discrimination -- Law and legislation -- United States
African American youth -- Political activity
Immigrants -- Political activity -- United States
Try exploring the Library Catalog for books related to your topic. The catalog is the main way to locate books, as well as journals and videos in the Brandeis library collections.
Start by brainstorming keywords and search terms. Use subject headings or descriptors to help generate search terms.
To identify works written by authors such as Malcolm X and James Baldwin, try conducting a search and limiting by author using the menu option to the left of your search results.
For this class, you may also be interested in searching for books by a particular author. Use Advanced Search to search by author or run a search and then use the menu options to limit your results to works by the author of interest.
If Brandeis does not have the book you need, try looking for books from other libraries:
WorldCat is a library catalog that contains millions of records for books and other materials held in libraries worldwide. Search for your item and then use the "Request Item from Interlibrary Loan" button or link on the item page to place your request.
More Information about Interlibrary Loan