Subdivisions are secondary subject headings within a print index. They identify sub-sets or aspects of a main heading or divide a broad subject into narrower aspects. Subdivisons can be topical, chronological, or geographic. Subdivisions correspond to your secondary concept category terms.
In indexes with an alphabetical arrangement, subdivisions follow the main heading and are either preceded by a dash or centered in the column under the main heading. Use your secondary concept categories to focus your search by identifying the subdivisions that express these secondary concepts.
Indexes organized by abstract number may use subdivisions in the subject index, but often these indexes use a much larger set of subject headings instead. When you search this kind of print index, start with the most specific term you have that describes your topic.
Scan the subdivisions associated with your main heading carefully, before you read the citations under each subdivision. If you find a subdivision that specifically describes your topic, then the citations listed under that subdivision are the only ones you will need to scan for relevant material.
Thesis statement:
The index Readers Guide to Periodical Literature uses subdivisions. One of these is "government relations." Articles on the above topic can be found under the main heading Indians of North America plus the subdivision -government relations. In the index itself this would appear as:
It is always a good strategy to scan the list of subdivisions under your main heading. You may find additional aspects that you had not considered but which fall within the scope of your topic. In the above example, an additional useful subdivision is:
