A thesaurus is an alphabetical listing of all the subject terms in a single database, used to classify and organize information for that database.
ProQuest Parliamentary Papers have an associated thesaurus (also called a controlled vocabulary of subject terms). Editors use the thesauri to assign subject headings to documents in the database.
Using a thesaurus with your search
On the Basic and Advanced Search Forms, click the Find Terms link located below (on the Basic Form) or on the right (in the Advanced Form) of the search box. A popup window opens, providing a list of the thesauri terms available.
- You can search the Subject List for terms "containing" or "starting with" your query (depending on the selected dropdown). This will bring up a consolidated list of all terms fitting your query, whether they are in the 19th, 20th, or 21st century collections.
- There are 3 Tabs to browse the different century level subject lists: 19th Century, 20th Century, and 21st Century. Although ProQuest Parliamentary Papers contains 18th Century content, that content set has not been indexed with subject terms.
- The 19th Century tab default view is the "Browse category" view.
- This shows the "Cockton" indexing hierarchy that applies to all 19th Century content in the database. There are up to 6 levels to this hierarchy and allows for unprecedented access using extraordinarily detailed indexing. Introduction to the Subject Catalogue, 1801-1900
- Selecting one of the letters instead of "Browse category" will show an alphabetical listing of all subject terms beginning with that letter.
- The 20th and 21st Century tabs do not have the option to view the lists in a hierarchical view. Instead, the user can browse the subject list content alphabetically.
Click the checkbox and paste the term into the search box in the search form by using the "Paste to Search" button. Multiple terms can be selected.