Cross references tell the user the correct subject heading to use. Sometimes the terms listed in your concept categories will not be the terms used by the index. Indexers are often aware of these alternative terms and will provide guides to the correct terms. Cross references, usually expressed through the commands "see," "use" or "see also," are the primary way to get from the terms you selected to the authorized terms used by the index.
"See" and "use" tell you that items on a particular topic are listed under the term which follows the "see" or the "use."
Examples of see or use references are:
"See also" tells you that there are alternative terms under which items relevant to that topic will be listed. You should look carefully at these. You might find a better term for your topic than the one you are using.
Examples of see also references are:
Cross references are particularly helpful if your topic is one where societal and research interests and the language used to express those interests and concerns have changed over time. Words in use today will not always work when you are doing research in older materials. Especially in the social sciences you may have to figure out what terms they would have used for the concept you are researching.
For example, if your topic is "domestic violence" and you need materials from the 1970s, then you will need to use different subject words. "Domestic violence" was not commonly used then.
Some cross references to the terms you would need use for this topic are:
If your topic, such as the above example, is one that was not widely discussed or was considered "taboo" in a particular time period, you will need to search under a variety of terms and in all volumes of the index to reasonably cover the relevant materials. Frequently, you will need to use your intuition and prior knowledge of the topic to select useful subject headings and potentially relevant items.
