Cannabis

• Try using the Advanced Search feature to create more complex searches. Use multiple search bars to nest some terms together and change the emphasis given to certain terms in your search.
• Try changing the search fields. This is the little dropdown box near the search bar (shown in an EBSCO database below). If you know the name of the author you're looking for, know that you want certain words or phrases to show up in the title or abstract of the resource, or want to narrow your search in some other way, the search field is a great way to do it. When you change it, your terms or phrases in that search bar are limited to being searched for in the chosen field.
  
  
   
• If you've found a subject term used by the database you're searching that you think will bring you close to your desired topic, or if you know of a word or two that might be found in the subject term, search these using the Subject Terms search field. The results of this in an EBSCO database are below, with the location of the subject terms also highlighted. Just remember, if you're searching a full subject term, that it needs to match what is used by the database exactly, otherwise it won't work.
  
  
   
• If you have success in one database with a subject term, but find that the same subject term isn't used as a subject term in another database, try using it as a search term, putting phrases in quotes.
• If you find a Library of Congress Subject Heading (sort of like subject terms assigned by the Library of Congress and often used in books and some databases, also called LCSH) that you think will work, you can use them to build search terms. Using LCSH in this way allows you to use the language likely used to describe the concepts you are looking for and might result in a more precise search. See below for a list of LCSH that might be helpful and how they can be turned into search terms and phrases.

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) can be a great source of search terms and phrases. Let's look at how we can turn one into the other.

If we take the LCSH Cannabis--Therapeutic use, we can turn that into cannabis AND "therapeutic use" to turn it into something we can use in the databases. 

Below is a list of some of the LCSH that could be helpful with researching cannabis.

• cannabinoids--therapeutic use
• hemp--United States--history
• marijuana abuse--juvenile literature
• marijuana abuse--United States--history
• marijuana industry--government policy--United States
• marijuana--abuse
• marijuana--abuse--history
• marijuana--fiction
• marijuana--government policy
• marijuana--government policy--United States
• marijuana--juvenile literature
• marijuana--law and legislation--California [or other state]
• marijuana--law and legislation--United States
• marijuana--physiological effect
• marijuana--political aspects--United States
• marijuana--psychological aspects
• marijuana--therapeutic use
• marijuana--therapeutic use--California [or other state]
• marijuana--therapeutic use--history
• marijuana--therapeutic use--United States
• marijuana--therapeutic use--United States--history
• marijuana--toxicology
• marijuana--United States